The brother and sister duo of Camilla and Francesco Scavino founded La Carlina in 2014 at the foot of the Medieval castle that towers over the village of Grinzane Cavour. The name “La Carlina” is a reference to the farm of their grandmother where the family would celebrate and party, which is also the place where Camilla and Francesco began experimenting with winemaking as teenagers. You could probably call La Carlina Piedmont’s “newest” producer – They’ve been producing their own wine for about five years now and are releasing their first Barolo this year. Overall holdings are actually pretty significant, consisting of 8 hectares of Barolo alone! Vineyards are scattered between the hills of the Langhe and Monferrato (although most vines conveniently sit at the base of the winery), and farming is strictly organic. 

Until several years ago the family would sell all fruit to the local cooperative, but things changed when Camilla and Francesco’s father needed a larger space to house his growing specialty pasta empire – His company, Pastificio Langhe, is one of Italy’s best producers of naturally colored and uniquely shaped noodles. The old University winemaking school sat next to their main Barolo vineyard, and they found that it was abandoned and consequently for sale…This meant room for everyone to grow – Turn the classrooms into a pasta factory and fill the basement with casks of Barolo! You just can’t make this kind of stuff up sometimes…

There aren’t many “hipster” winemakers in Barolo, a tradition-soaked region where one hectare of land is valued at 3 million Euros, but Francesco is one of the few. For us this means an openness to experimentation that we take for granted in places like Saumur or Kremstal, but rarely see in Piedmont. As for Camilla, she is as smart as they come but at the same time constantly bubbling over with charm and laughter.  

Carlina’s two examples of Favorita are can’t miss items – One is fermented in amphora with extended skin contact and the other is clean and uber-crisp, only seeing steel tank. As for Barbera Superiore you don’t see much of the category in the market overall, and Carlina’s example is top rate with opulent fruit and minimal wood. We can’t wait to pick up their Barolo – It fits an interesting slot in the Grape Expectations portfolio as Grinzane Cavour Barolo is famously elegant and arrives a bit lower in price than similarly pedigreed wine from Serralunga or La Morra, et all. If we work out the right numbers with Camilla this could end up our “Crous St. Martin” equivalent in Piemonte and with eight hectares they actually have some volume to play with!

La Carlina 18 Favorita – Bright, crisp, fresh, outstanding
La Carlina 17 Favorita Riserva – Slight color from skin contact, almost peachy, very broad, unique
La Carlina 16 Nebbiolo Langhe – Medium bodied Nebbiolo, plenty of red fruit, classic
La Carlina 17 Nebbiolo Langhe – Slightly younger than the 2016, promising
La Carlina 17 Barbera d’Asti – Terrific freshness here, purple fruits, hard to put this glass down
La Carlina 16 Barbera d’Asti Superiore – Textbook low-yield Barbera, wood well-integrated, superb
La Carlina 15 Barolo – Elegant style, strawberries, roses, mineral… packed with flavor and complexity and showing well even at this young an age.