2015 Azelia, Barolo DOCG “San Rocco” Piemonte, Italy.
The brilliant and still youthfully forceful, the Azelia San Rocco cru Barolo, from the 2015 vintage shows off a full range of classic Nebbiolo flavors and has excellent depth and clarity with a full bodied palate of underlying power, but still elegant and incredibly lengthy, special stuff here. A dark flowers, macerated red berries, earth, balsamic, spiced and minty nose lifts from the glass and leads to a firm layering of brandied cherry, damson plum, red currant and briery raspberry fruits, along with Asian spices, black licorice, seeped rose, chalky stones, leather, burnt orange and cedary notes. Beautiful complete, ripe and merged at this point, the 2015 San Rocco, by Luigi Sacvino, who made some legendary and traditional Barolo over the years, and team at Azelia, has made another robustly structured wine, with rustic charm and is a wine that couldn’t be any other than it is, with an outspoken terroir presence from start to finish. One of the most outstanding wines I’ve tasted from this vintage, which was over shadowed by 2016, and a wine full of personality and loaded with rewarding pleasures. This wine, from mature 65 year old vines, saw an indigenous yeast fermentation and 100% de-stemming, with grapes macerated on the skins for close to 60 days with a submerged cap, after which the juice was pressed to large used casks for a full 24 months in oak. The single crus are highly collectable here, but don’t over look the regular Barolo bottling either, it always over performs and is a sublime value, especially in the best years.
The small, but highly regarded San Rocco cru, in the Serralunga d’Alba appellation, is high up, north of Castiglione Falletto, with steep sunny facing eastern slope, on clay and calcareous soils, almost guaranteed to produce powerful Barolo expressions, and Azelia has truly captured that here with this 2015 version. Lorenzo Scavino, Luigi’s son, the current generation at the helm of Azelia, says of San Rocco, the wine (to him) is a cuirassier… Fleshy, extremely focused. Here (the zone of) Serralunga d’Alba is present with signs of licorice, spices and dark fruits. Going on he adds that San Rocco presents, as seen here, cherry, currant and blueberry that melt harmoniously together with the usual velvety and sweetly ripe, with splendidly integrated tannins. San Rocco typically gives an impression of great power, austerity, with an incredible aging potential, something that I find in most all of the Azelia Barolo offerings, certainly as I’ve seen over last 20 plus years I have followed the winery and previously sold as a former wine merchant and wine buyer. This San Rocco, is a great reminder of the impact and awe you can see in a classic style Barolo, and this wine easily took on two top notch Barbarescos on the night I had it with friends, and it was impeccable with a range of cuisine and the cheese course, with just added to the wine’s appeal and depth on display. A big thank you again, to Alex Lallos, who just visited the Scavino’s at Azelia, while taking in Vinitaly 2025, and brought this one home to share.
($95 Est.) 96 Points, grapelive