2018 Elvio Cogno Barolo Ravera Organic, Piedmont

The Elvio Cogno 2018 Barolo Ravera is becoming one of the most important wines in Novello, and it performs very nicely in this more challenging vintage. In fact, 2018 helps to cement Ravera's steadfast reputation precisely because it performs so well despite spells of humidity and heat. The wine shows small-berry detailing with rust and crushed stone at the back. Jun 2022 Drink 2024-2040

94 points Monica Larner, Robert Parker

Nice complexity to the nose, showing red cherry, walnut shell and pungent earth. Hints of pressed flowers, too. The palate is medium-bodied with lightly firm, velvety tannins and a very tightly wound core of fruit and tannin at the heart of the wine. The lighter structure is set, reflecting the vintage, but there’s enough going on for positive development with bottle age. Refined feel to this. Hold until 2024.

93 points James Suckling Feb 2022 

Cascina Nuova is Cogno's Barolo from younger vines of around 25 years old. The wine is aged in large Slavonian oak for 24 months. The profile is lighter and fresher, with rose, dry mushrooms, leafy lightness, strawberry fruit and tar. The attack is all strawberry and pomegranate, with ripe and velvety tannins and brilliant acidity. It seems to be brief but instead is just light, precise and tasty. Drinking Window: 2023 - 2030 (at Alba, 26 Jan 2022)
 
92 points Aldo Fiordelli, Decanter 
Part of Top value Barolo 2018: 13 great picks 

From the prized Ravera cru in Novello, Elvio Cogno Barolo Ravera is a benchmark expression of Nebbiolo that combines precision, elegance and depth. The Cogno family, now led by Valter Fissore and Nadia Cogno, has built a reputation for traditional Barolo with clarity and finesse, farming organically and focusing on one of the most highly regarded sites in the region. Ravera’s calcareous clay soils and higher altitude bring structure, aromatic lift and a distinctive mineral edge that sets it apart.

A luminous garnet with orange tinges sits in the glass. Aromas unfold in classic Nebbiolo layers, rose petal, red cherry and raspberry intertwined with orange peel, spice, dried herbs and a subtle earthy note. There is an immediate sense of perfume and purity.

The palate is medium to full bodied and beautifully structured, delivering vibrant red fruit framed by firm, finely grained tannins and bright acidity. Notes of cranberry, liquorice, tea leaf and savoury earth build through the mid palate, leading to a long, precise finish that feels both powerful and finely detailed. This is a Barolo built for patience, evolving over fifteen to twenty years into layers of truffle, dried florals and complex tertiary nuance.

Braised veal with herbs, tajarin with butter and sage, or slow cooked duck with spice and citrus shared as the evening unfolds. A late night immersion into something timeless, Verdi or Puccini giving way to a touch of Arvo Pärt, the wine carrying that same sense of structure, emotion and quiet intensity.