Wine Advisor
Elio Grasso, Barolo Gavarini Chiniera 2021
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Monica Larner
The Elio Grasso 2021 Barolo Gavarini Chiniera is a beautifully elegant expression marked by chalky tannins, crushed flowers, balsamic herb and profound fruit depth that stretches effortlessly across a very long finish. The wine shows impressive dimensionality and finesse, with tannins that feel refined and perfectly placed, giving the palate a sense of quiet authority. Fermented with an extended 50-day submerged-cap maceration and aged for three years in large Slavonian oak, this wine reflects a late-harvest vintage shaped by cold winter conditions, strong diurnal shifts and calcareous, sandy soils at 360–380 meters, resulting in exceptional length and balance.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2021 Barolo Gavarini Chiniera is superb. Bright, vertical and explosive, the 2021 exudes tension and all the saline, mineral-infused energy that are such signatures here. Lively acids drive through a core of red berry fruit, blood orange, chalk, mint and white pepper. This translucent, elegant Barolo has it all. The linear, vibrant style is so appealing.
About the Producer
Elio Grasso’s History Born within an old family of Monforte d’Alba with substantial vineyards in the prestigious parts of the town, Grasso may seem destined for a career as a Barolo producer . But instead he chose a different path, at least in the early stages of adult life, choosing to work in the world of finance and living an urban existence that was decidedly different from that of the rural world in which he was born and raised. The wines of Elio Grasso The call of the land, however, eventually proved strong, and the return to Monforte d’Alba was probably only a matter of time. And what he returned to was in fact an impressive patrimony: 18 hectares of vineyards that include first-rate sites such as Chiniera , Casa Matè , and Runcot . Grasso, in fact, just in 1978, decided to ferment and age on his own the grapes of his best plots and was a pioneer in selling both a regular Barolo and also a series of crus . As a producer, Grasso has always been attentive to tradition, but, given the important experiences linked to the numerous generations of his family in the area, he has never wanted to radically transform his wines: both Chiniera and Casa Matè are aged in barrels; only the Runcot , a Riserva , ages in small barrels. Innovation, on the other hand, is represented by two other wines from the line: the excellent Barbera Martina aged in barrels and Educato , a Chardonnay fermented in barrels.
