We’ve heard it said that Scarpa is the ‘best winery you’ve never heard of,’ but we think of it as a sensational source for terrific, mature, traditionally-produced pan-Piemontese wines at very reasonable prices.

*2020 Antica Casa Scarpa Nebbiolo d’Alba ‘Bric du Nota’

Regular Price $45.00, Special Price $39.99
15% off on six bottles $33.99
with shipping included

A visit to TenutaScarpa’s (a.k.a. Antica Casa Scarpa) old semi-urban cantina on the outskirts of Nizza, about 25 kilometers southeast of Barolo, is like visiting a museum of the history of winemaking in Piemonte. This old property makes, or has made, over the past century just about every kind of wine the region has ever produced. In their cellar you’ll find racks packed with old bottles of unlabeled Barolo and Barbaresco, thirty year-old, still delicious Dolcetto d’Aqui, rare BrachettoSecco, Rucche and Freisa- all just as old, and, of course, lots and lots of wonderful Barbera. This is, after all, Nizza, ground zero for Barbera d’Asti and the Nizza DOCG. Walls and walls full of treasures! Even better is that Scarpa actually lets you try some of these old wines when you visit. All tastings here at the cantina include a smattering of oldies and, by tradition, always a fascinating blind tasting at the end. In my case, last time I visited, it was an eleven-year old bottle of Freisa that blew my mind! Additionally, Scarpa exports only the wines they think are mature to the USA and their once-annual container is always filled with fun wines. Some of the wines I tasted and ordered during my last visit have finally arrived. Here is one treasure you should definitely add to your own cellar. While many producers are already trotting out their 2022 or even 2023 Nebbiolos, Scarpa is giving us their 2020….a relative stripling in a cellar loaded with wines far older. But for all its (relative) youth, it’s drinking stunningly well. Bric du Nota is an old steeply-sloped single-vineyard Nebbiolo site not far from the town of Canale in Roero. It’s an older, very privileged hillside vineyard that Scarpa has been farming for many decades. The wine is vinified in cement fermenters and aged in old casks highlighting only the fierce individuality of the Nebbiolo grape and nothing else. The 2020 is at the very beginning of its ascent with its pure, ferrous-y, mineral-driven flavors cut in vivid relief. I could use it as a primer on the aromatics and flavors of Nebbiolo, right from its brick red color all the way through its deliciously spicy, umami-laden dried earth finish. Broad on the palate for a wine whose aromatics seem so focused, it strikes just the right balance between its ripe dried cherry fruit and very-Nebbiolo structure and finish. Drink it now or keep it for, well, how long do you have?
Very highly recommended.