Paolo Scavino, Barolo Bric del Fiasc, 2001

Enrico Scavino's signature cru, 24 years on. Bric del Fiasc (the dialect name for Bricco Fiasco) is the southwest-facing parcel in Castiglione Falletto (Scavino owns roughly 2.5 hectares in the heart of the Fiasco cru) that Enrico persuaded his father Paolo to bottle separately starting in 1978 — and it has been the calling card of Paolo Scavino ever since. The 2001 vintage is one of the great classical years of the modern era, and at this age the wine has shed its considerable youthful structure and slid fully into its mid-life window: smoke, tar, dried roses, licorice, sweet menthol and that core of Castiglione Falletto fruit that always feels both powerful and lifted. A flagship of contemporary Barolo in full stride.