The jury was out on the 2018 vintage of Barolo for a long time. The harvest was the product of about every natural malady known to man and it took extraordinary attention and meticulous farming and cellar work to get it right. The good news, though, is no region is better prepared these days for this sort of harvest than the best properties in Piemonte made some phenomenal wines and the critical assessment of the vintage has done nothing but improve as the wines have been released. At their best, they are classics ala 2012, Nebbiolos with compact, elegant fruit, nicely delineated tannins and great potential to gain weight and stature as they cellar. No one did a better job than the Scavinos with their 2018s. From top to bottom, they made poster children for how great 2018s should look. We’ve been offered the opportunity to re-up on a few of our favorites at some rather favorable pricing. If you missed out when they were first released last spring or you’ve discovered you don’t have enough, this is your moment!   

• The Scavino Barolo      DOCG has been PRIMA’s go-to blended Barolo ‘Normale’ (now we call it Classico!)      for decades. It was a fixture      by-the-glass in our restaurant and a fixture in your home cellars as well      as its price-quality-drinkability ratio is simply off the charts. Coming from seven different crus the Scavinos      farm, it’s an amalgam of a who’s-who of top Barolo vineyards: Rocche      Moriondino, Vignolo and Pernanno vineyards in Castiglione      Falletto, Albarella, Terlo and Vignane vineyards in Barolo and      the San Bernardo vineyard in Serralunga. The Scavinos’ wines are known for their completeness,      polish, aromatic complexity and sumptuous appeal, and that pretty much      describes this ready-for-action 2018. It’s a classic you can drink tonight or in seven or eight years.  Very highly recommended.  
• At the other end      of the scale, we have the Scavino’s iconic Bric del Fiasc. The name, now a registered trademark of      the family’s rather than the official name of the vineyard from which it hails,      still comes, as it has for 45 vintages, from the Fiasco MGA in      Castiglione Falletto. They’ve farmed      this parcel of this very fine cru since 1912 and, even though they now produce      a passel of different single vineyard Barolos, Bric del Fiasc remains the      flagship. Here the intensity is ratcheted      up several notches with more complex blood and ferrous-y notes and, as      always, a top-note whiff of wild anise. Add to that a core of compact cherry confit fruit, hints of      camphor, cinnamon and mint chocolate and you have the archetypal Barolo      from Castiglione Falletto and the classic Scavino! Those who might have a lot of older Bric      del Fiascs in their cellar might reference the aforementioned 2012, but      also 1993 and 1998 to find correlates to this harvest. That      1993, now at 30 years past the harvest, is still an elegant, oh-wow bottle      of Barolo so…… 

Stock is limited.       James Suckling on the Barolo DOCG: Vivid aromas of red berries and roses follow though to a medium-bodied palate, where fine tannins provide a lightly firm bed for fresh fruit. The lighter, brighter style of this is true to the character of the vintage, but here it’s been well-handled. All in balance.  93 points  Wine Advocate on the Barolo DOCG: The Paolo Scavino 2018 Barolo is a pretty wine with sweet primary intensity that appears as tart cherry and dried raspberry. With Enrico Scavino's signature on the front label, this is a classic package with silky tannins and a long, polished mouthfeel. Fruit comes from multiple vineyard sites across the appellation. Best After 2024. 93 points    Wine Advocate on the Bric del Fiasc: With aromas of earth, dried spice and crushed stone, the Paolo Scavino 2018 Barolo Bric del Fiasc holds its own in this vintage. Thanks to its wide shoulders, the wine gives emphasis to a core of dark fruit, licorice and grilled herb. This 9,000-bottle production uses fruit from the Fiasco vineyard in Castiglione Falletto. Best After 2024. 95 points Wine Spectator on the Bric del Fiasc: A suave, spicy red hallmarked by cherry, chocolate and menthol aromas and flavors, with iron and tar notes chiming in as this develops on the palate. Shuts down in the end, yielding to firm yet well-mannered and integrated tannins. Complex and long overall. Best from 2026 through 2043. 95 points