Each Azelia Cerretta Barolo Vertical 4-Pack includes the following:

• 1 x 2016 Azelia Cerretta Barolo 750ml (AG 97pts)
• 1 x 2017 Azelia Cerretta Barolo 750ml (JS 98pts)
• 1 x 2018 Azelia Cerretta Barolo 750ml (HH 97pts)
• 1 x 2019 Azelia Cerretta Barolo 750ml (HH 98pts)

The outstanding Cerretta Cru has only seen four releases since its inauguration, beginning with the 2016 vintage.

2016:

The 2016 Barolo Cerretta brings together all the best elements of the Azelia house style. Powerful, dense and dark, the Cerretta has so much going for it. Black cherry, plum, lavender, spice, menthol, sage and licorice all flesh out in the glass. Rich and potent in feel with tremendous nuance, the Cerretta is flat-out stunning. The Scavinos started by renting this parcel in 1995 and they re-planted it in 1996. For many years, all of this fruit went into the straight Barolo. Now, 25 years later, the estate has finally released its first single-vineyard Barolo off this site, and it is a stunner. - 97pts, Antonio Galloni

 

2017:

Extremely aromatic with strawberries, flowers, and stones, following through to a full body with layers of fruit and round tannins that go on and on. Rich and opulent, yet polished and toned. A generous young Barolo. - 98pts James Suckling

The 2017 Barolo Cerretta is another powerful wine. Unlike the San Rocco, which is dense in the middle, the Cerretta is distinguished by a more austere, linear feel. Crushed flowers, mint, licorice, blood orange and pine build with time in the glass. The tannins are incisive at this stage, so a few years of cellaring is essential. - 95pts Antonio Galloni

This is the second vintage of this new single-vineyard expression from Serralunga d'Alba. It is a family project that has been in the works for decades. This 3,500-bottle release of the Azelia 2017 Barolo Cerretta represents a firm and compact wine that sits tight on the palate. The hot vintage has developed a robust structure and power but has also subtracted from the wine's ruby color intensity. Indeed, its light garnet hue is deceptive once you consider the wine's substantial textural fiber and fruit intensity. There is sweet cherry and plum followed by candied orange peel and rusty iron ore. It should be fascinating to see how this wine evolves, as I imagine the tannins will become softer and pliant with time, but the wine's color will surely fade further. This cru is dedicated to the centennial anniversary of the estate. - 94pts Monica Larner - Wine Advocate

 

2018:

Ruby with garnet edges. The perfume is lifted, concentrated and very appealing, a mix of plump berry fruit aromas, violets, clove and aniseed, crushed rocks and iron filings. In the mouth the wine is beautifully pure, combining depth with elegance, subtle flavours, minerality, blood orange acidity and ultra-fine tannins fanning like a peacock's tail across the tongue and flowing to a subtle yet exceptionally long finish. Young though it is, this is a gorgeous wine of exceptional structure, line and length. - 97pts Drink 2022-2050 Stephen Blandford for Huon Hooke

 

2019:

Garnet, just fading at the edges. There is an arresting bouquet of redcurrant and damson plum, a gentle waft of exotic spice, as well as liquorice, mint and other dried herbs, all in concerto. To taste, the wine offers an excellent concentration of flavour, initially vibrant yet elegant in fruit succulence before spice and savoury notes kick in, beautifully supple tannins interwoven with tangy orange peel acidity, all flowing to an extraordinarily long finish. A glorious wine of depth, intensity and balance. (The story goes that estate owner Luigi Scavino waited 30 years before he felt that the vines in his Cerretta plot were old enough for the wine to be bottled as an individual cru.) Drink 2023-2053. - 98pts, Stephen Blandford for Huon Hooke