Azelia

In 1920 Cavalier Lorenzo Scavino began to vinify part of the grapes produced in the family's vineyards, a small rural reality in the heart of the Langhe region, in Castiglione Falletto.  His son Alfonso started enthusiastically to bottle the wine produced and thanks to Luigi's father, Lorenzo, with perseverance and willpower, the wines were for the first time exported.

The Azienda Agricola Azelia, in the centre of the area of Barolo production, is nowadays composed of 16 hectares and it produces, on average, 80,000 bottles per year. Luigi is supported by his wife Lorella and his son Lorenzo, who bears the name of his grandfather and who represents the fifth generation of wine producers. The family management is essential as it permits an extreme precision in every step of the production. Great care is given to the work in the vineyards. Wine is made there from old vines which produce very few grapes. The low yields are further reduced through the green harvest, indispensable to select fruits, to have a uniform ripening and an impeccable quality.

Luigi dedicates to his vineyards maniacal carefulness and attention. It is from the raw material, the grapes, that he obtains the very great quality of his wines. Part of the nowadays' vines have been planted by Luigi's father, Lorenzo, in the 1940s. They are for Azelia a unique heritage. It is the ancient vines, with their lower yields and their deeper roots, which produce amazing grapes. As a result the berries are much smaller, more concentrated and fully ripe. 

A minimum of two green harvests per year are carried out for each vineyard to further reduce the yields. The green harvest implies a long and scrupulous work during the high summer season. In about 40 days all the bunches, one by one, are examined attentively and those in excess are eliminated. Even more than 30-35 % of the bunches may be cut and left on the ground. In this way the remaining grapes reach a ripening and a concentration otherwise unattainable. 

All the operations are done by hand. The most important ones such as the pruning of the oldest vines, the leaves removal and the green harvest, are accomplished personally by Luigi and by the other members of the family. Only can the expert eye and the skilled hand achieve the highest quality of the grapes. 

 

No vine is replaced unless it dies. Only when strictly necessary copper and sulphur base products are utilized and no chemical fertilizer is added to the soil. Solely every 3-4 years natural manure is added to the poorest areas of the hills. Spontaneous grass is left grow naturally between the rows. 

 

Harvest is totally by hand, through a rigorous selection bunch by bunch, so that every unsuitable berry is removed and left on the ground. This trimming is indispensable to guarantee an impeccable raw material and it permits Luigi to vinify exclusively the best berries. Grapes are laid down with care in small crates in order to have them delivered to the cellar perfectly intact.

The highest possible quality in bottle
is the principal aim for Azelia. Luigi believes that one produces wine essentially in the vineyards, with passion, where the quality of the grapes is imperative. In the cellar one works at his best to maintain and exalt what the vines produce, respecting the characteristics and the nature of the grapes. One must be able to find in the bottle all the efforts which are performed in the vineyards. 

Every wine is produced with the same care and attention. According to Luigi the search of the quality must involve both base wines and Barolo Riserva, independently from the final price. 

The procedures adopted in the cellar represent a sort of fusion between modernity and tradition: the past, the history of four generations of wine producers is maintained with the inclusion of modern techniques. Luigi affirms that the right method is in between.
It is always a matter of balance.
All the wines do the fermentation and the malolactic inside temperature-controlled rotofermenters. Yeasts and enzymes are never added, everything is carried out by wild natural yeasts. During the aging the winery utilizes, according to the wine, barriques or large casks in order to allow each wine to express itself in the best way. No wine undergoes any filtration or clarification of any kind. The stabilization occurs thanks to gravity. 
 

Azelia wines distinguish themselves by their extraordinary typicity and elegance, strongly conferred by the grapes produced from old vines. Excellent drinkability and impeccable balance are for Luigi two fundamental goals.