Confidence and Tradition
2007 Brovia Barolo Villero
A Fraction of the Price of Its Star Peers
"a hugely promising wine."
- Antonio Galloni, Wine Advocate
Brovia is one of the traditional greats of Barolo, period. There are obvious parallels with the estate of Giuseppe Mascarello; both have worked the great sites of Monprivato and Villero. Both estates are unflinchingly traditional and make Barolos that are more Burgundian in style, wines that truly flower with time.
To our palate, both estates make some of the greatest Barolos in the land.
If there is some logical reason why Brovia's wines haven't blown up in the same way Mascarello's have, taking a rather privileged position among the acknowledged legends (B. Mascarello, G. Conterno, Giacosa), we don't know it.
At the same time, we're not exactly complaining - Brovia's prices remain extremely friendly.
Villero is one of the top sites of Barolo’s Castiglione Falletto commune - right up there with Monprivato or Rocche di Castiglione. This commune is known for its full aromatics and rich, velvety structure, and Villero fits that profile to a tee. The vineyard faces southwest and has fairly clayey soil, which gives the wines their sense of muscle as well as a boldness and plushness of fruit, flower and earth. Aligned with the traditional Brovia style, the wines are particularly long-lived - especially coming from the 2007 vintage.
Overall the 07s, as Galloni notes, "possess a fleshiness that makes them virtually impossible to resist even at this early stage." There’s a warmth and sweetness to the 07s’ fruit, a ripeness and lovely integration of the Nebbiolo grape’s massive tannins that offers, rather unusually, an early appeal. Were you to take a six-pack and crack one on a cold night this winter, a long decant would assure a very positive drinking experience (particularly with something like, say, wild mushroom risotto).
Still, Brovia’s 07 Villero in particular seems to have a core constitution, a penetrating, dark, dense, savory earthiness that demands a couple of decades to really show what it’s fully capable of.I’d expect the fleshiness and full fruit to meld into a beautiful silkiness, all interwoven with those haunting, ever-evolving aromatics of dried roses, violets, mint, truffles and tar.
Brovia was established in 1863 and, while it’s always been known for its deep sense of tradition, today it’s run by fourth generation Elena and Cristina, who are young, dynamic and very much focused on continuously improving quality - always with an eye on the proven traditions of the previous generations.
They currently farm 15 hectares in vineyards that rank among the most prestigious in the Barolo DOCG. They farm entirely without chemicals, firmly of the mindset that great wine can only come from great grapes in well-maintained vineyards. They prune hard, then green-harvest to reduce yield, and finally hand-harvest, selecting only the best fruit. Only indigenous yeasts are used in fermentation, and aging is in the traditional, large, Slovenian oak botti.
The techniques almost can’t help but produce outstanding wines. "Hugely promising" wines, to be sure. We have priced the six-packs today very sharply to encourage all those who can to "go long" here. I believe this is one of those smart investments that will pay off big almost no matter when you cash in, whether that be, as mentioned above, one night this winter or down the line five, ten, even 20+ years from now.
As tends to be the case with this sort of quality at this sort of price, there's not a lot to go around. Please give us your maximum order, and we'll get this into as many hands as possible. To order, please click below, email us at offers@crushwineco.com or call the store at (212) 980-9463.
Stephen Bitterolf
Wine Director
Crush Wine & Spirits