Brovia Barolo Brea Vigna Ca' Mia 2022
We have 2 in stock (Inventory is live and accurate)
The Land
Every other Barolo Brovia makes comes from Castiglione Falletto. Brea is the exception, and the family crossed a commune line to get it. The vineyard sits in Serralunga d'Alba, the zone's narrow eastern valley and the address most associated with tannin, structure and slow development. Brovia's parcel, called Vigna Ca' Mia, runs to one hectare planted in 1955, the oldest fruit on the estate, on clay and limestone at around 350 meters with a southeast to south exposure. Serralunga's soils are poorer and more compact than the sand and marl across the valley, and vines work harder for less. That is the point, and it is why Serralunga held up best in the drought of 2022.
The Wine
100% Nebbiolo, fermented with indigenous yeasts in old glass-lined concrete with roughly a month on the skins, then 18 months in large Slavonian botti and 18 in French oak casks, bottled unfiltered. Around 3,500 bottles are made. The family nicknamed it Il Ruffiano, the charmer, for the way it smells rather than the way it drinks. 2022 was the driest Piedmontese season in roughly 70 years, about 311 millimeters of rain from April through October, with yields down 20 to 45 percent. Harvest in Serralunga began September 25, and rain at the end of the month pulled potential alcohol back and restored lift. Dark cherry and rose over moss, truffle and forest underbrush, then a full body with firm, gripping tannins and bright acidity. Tightly wound now. Give it a long decant or five years.
The People
Giacinto Brovia founded the estate in 1863. It stopped in 1932 with the early death of Antonio Brovia and resumed in 1953 under his sons Giacinto and Raffaele, an enologist and an agronomist. Elena and Cristina joined in the 1980s. Alex Sanchez, Elena's husband, arrived from Barcelona in 2001 with no wine background and learned the cellar directly from Giacinto, who died in 2014. Through the 1990s, when barriques were reshaping Barolo, Brovia never changed course, and now reads as one of the zone's steadiest traditionalist references. The vineyards are farmed organically. Nebbiolo vines under 20 years old are sold off, those between 20 and 40 go into the estate Barolo, and only vines past 40 make it into a cru. The 1955 planting here clears that bar by three decades.
Food Pairing
Serralunga tannin wants fat and time. Brasato di manzo, beef braised for four hours in red wine with onion, carrot and clove, is the pairing this wine was raised on. A roasted guinea hen stuffed with thyme and lemon, pan juices spooned over, gives the truffle and underbrush side something to work with. Risotto al tartufo, finished with butter and Parmigiano, doubles down on the wine's forest aromatics. Or a slow-braised beef cheek over polenta. Brea Vigna Ca' Mia is the bottle you buy two of, drink one in January and forget the other for a decade.
We ship wine to most states with a $100 minimum order for shipping. We don't ship spirits nor beer.
Weather shipping advisory: Orders placed during times of extreme heat or extreme cold will be held for no charge until more favorable weather returns.
Piedmont, framed by the Alps in northwestern Italy, is a land of rolling hills and carefully cultivated vineyards. The continental climate, with its cold winters and warm summers, creates prime conditions for the Nebbiolo grape, which dominates much of the region's red wine production. The Langhe area is home to Barolo and Barbaresco, structured red wines known for their complex aromas, firm tannins, and aging potential. While Nebbiolo is the dominant grape of Piedmont, the region also makes interesting white wines like those from Arneis and Timorasso. Alto Piemonte is a separate region in the north with its own distinctive expressions of Nebbiolo, alongside other red grape varietals.
Italy - Piedmont
Nebbiolo, a prestigious grape from Italy's Piedmont region, is celebrated for its profound truffle and rose aromas, complex flavors, and ability to age gracefully thanks to strong acidity and tannins, producing the renowned Barolo and Barbaresco wines.
