Barolo's Noble Savages
2007 Brovia Barolo Villero MAGS
Lowest Price in the Nation (By a Lot!)
"a hugely promising wine." - Antonio Galloni, Wine Advocate
The wines of Brovia occupy a space in the wine world that frankly baffles us. They are amongst the best wines of Piedmont, but for years they've cruised under the radar with gentle pricing to match. We're not complaining, of course, but still - it's a curious phenomenon.
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.
If there is some logical reason why Brovia's wines haven't blown up in the same way Guiseppe Mascarello's have, taking a rather privileged position among the acknowledged legends (B. Mascarello, G. Conterno, Giacosa), we don't know it.
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A signature of Brovia's wines is how they dramatize the nuanced complexity of savory and earthy notes that help to establish Nebbiolo as one of the world's great grapes. They show haunting, ever-evolving aromatics of dried roses, violets, mint, truffles and tar.
They're the noble savages of Barolo.
These layers of earth, flowers and fruit require some patience with cellaring for the components to meld and for all the complexity to be teased out to produce a wine of beautiful silkiness and majestic aromatics. Today, we're happy to offer magnums of Brovia's Villero for $33 less than the lowest price out there. When it comes to aging wine, magnums do make a big difference. At only $140 per magnum, this is one of the wisest buys we know of.
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
The 2007 vintage is one that seems to have played well into Brovia's style. There’s a warmth and sweetness to the 07s’ fruit, a ripeness and lovely integration of the Nebbiolo grape’s massive tannins that offers that seems to complement Brovia's structured and savory style. To return to Galloni's quote, what you have is wine that's "hugely promising." Wines with a deep, sensuously textured fruit to complicate and complement the house style. 2007 is also one those vintages that will not be the fortress of tannins that Barolos can be in their youth.
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, email us at offers@crushwineco.com or call the store at (212) 980-9463.
Ian McFadden
Director, Fine & Rare Wine
Crush Wine & Spirits