It doesn’t take long to see the whole of the small production winery (less than 7 000 cases) but they are in the process of pumping the wine from the aging barrels to the final blending tank they use for bottling. It’s a process I’ve never seen before so it was cool to get to witness it. Lorenzo also showed us their small collection of older vintage bottles. They have wines that go back to at least the 1960s. I’d love to taste those someday.
2010 Dolcetto d’Alba Bricco dell’Oriolo
Azelia makes one of my favorite dolcettos. It’s bright and clean with lots of fruit and floral notes. It’s a wine that’s simple but thoroughly enjoyable.
2007 Barolo
This Barolo is a blend of vineyards from Castiglione Falletto and Serralunga. The vineyard in Castiglione Falletto is the same one from where they get the Riserva fruit, so the quality is impressive for being a simple Barolo.
2008 Bricco Fiasco
We tasted this alongside the next two wines, Margheria and San Rocco. It’s a great way to see the difference a vineyard makes. This vineyard is in Castiglione Falletto and is one of the great pedigrees of nebbiolo. This wine has finesse and character and shows a lot of floral and red fruit notes.
2008 Margheria
The Margheria vineyard is located in Serralunga and produces a higher-toned and minerally wine than that from Bricco Fiasco. It’s also much earthier and has more black fruit and spice character. Very nice wine.
2008 San Rocco
San Rocco is also in Serralunga but is more complex and full-bodied than the Margheria. There’s certainly notes of red and blue fruits, but it has a backbone of velvety tannins that tell me this wine will last for a long time.