2004 Brovia Barolo Garblet Sue

The estate's 2004 Barolo Garblèt Sue’ is made from the Bricco Fiasco vineyard, also in Castiglione Falletto. Once again, this is a picture perfect expression of site in a glass. The wine shows the muscular side of Castiglione. The Garblet Sue' literally explodes from the glass with masses of fruit on a structured, imposing frame. Notes of spices, tobacco and licorice appear, adding further complexity. As in the Rocche, the red fruits are quite spiced and floral, but there is an additional layer of power and sheer muscle to back it up. This in awesome, youthful Barolo that will require considerable patience.

The estate's 2004 Barolo Garbl?t Sue- is made from the Bricco Fiasco vineyard, also in Castiglione Falletto. Once again, this is a picture perfect expression of site in a glass. The wine shows the muscular side of Castiglione. The Garbl?t Sue- literally explodes from the glass with masses of fruit on a structured, imposing frame. Notes of spices, tobacco and licorice appear, adding further complexity. As in the Rocche, the red fruits are quite spiced and floral, but there is an additional layer of power and sheer muscle to back it up. This is an awesome, youthful Barolo that will require considerable patience. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2026. This is a superb set of wines from Brovia. For reasons I can't quite understand Brovia remains incredibly overlooked considering the quality of the juice they put in the bottle. In recent years Brovia has been making terrific wines in an enlightened traditional style that is immensely appealing. The estate favors long fermentations. The single-vineyard Barolos are aged in French oak casks, while the Barolo (made from young vines) is aged in Slavonian oak. The resulting wines offer notable complexity and tons of site-specific detail, which makes them great choices for learning about some of Piedmont's top terroirs. Even better, prices have remained exceedingly fair in relative terms, although US importer Neal Rosenthal declined to provide pricing on the 2004 Barolos. Readers should be aware that Brovia has decided to hold back the release of the 2004 Barolo Villero as they believe the wine needs more time. These are some of my notes from a barrel sample of that wine I tasted in April 2007: -stunning .... sublime .... elegant.- Simply put, Brovia is on fire. Readers won't want to miss out on these exceptional wines. Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchants, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990

Good medium red. Perfumed aromas of cherry, menthol and flowers. Sweet on entry, then tight in the middle, even a bit youthfully imploded. But this boasts a penetrating quality and terrific life in the mouth, thanks to its firm acid spine. A very closed wine that will need considerable time in bottle to reach maturity.