Azelia

Azelia began as a family estate in Castiglione Falletto, in the heart of the Langhe, long before it had a name on a bottle.

In 1920, Cavalier Lorenzo Scavino started to vinify part of the grapes from the family's vineyards. Over the following years his family bottled the wine, and the wines were exported for the first time. A century later, Azelia is still a small family winery, and it still makes wine only from grapes grown in its own vineyards.

The work starts in the vineyard. Azelia farms around 16 hectares in three villages: Castiglione Falletto, Serralunga d'Alba and Montelupo Albese. Most of the work is done by hand. No vine is replaced until it dies, because older vines give fewer grapes, and those grapes are smaller, more concentrated and ripen fully. Each vineyard is green-harvested at least twice a year, with every bunch checked by hand. Azelia uses natural treatments such as copper and sulphur only when they are strictly necessary, and it does not use chemical pesticides or herbicides. Part of the vineyards were replanted in the 1940s, and those old vines are the estate's most treasured asset.

Five generations have made this possible. Luigi Scavino, with more than 40 harvests behind him, runs the estate with his wife Lorella and their son Lorenzo, the fifth generation. Family management is what allows such precision at every step, from the vine to the bottle.

In the cellar, the grapes are selected again on a sorting table and fermented with natural indigenous yeasts in temperature-controlled stainless steel. Barolo is made with a traditional method: the skins are pushed down under the wine and kept there for a long, slow maceration, so the colour and tannins are drawn out gently. The Barolos then age for two to three years in oak. Nothing is filtered or fined, and the wines are bottled under argon so they never meet air. Dolcetto d'Alba and Langhe Nebbiolo are aged in stainless steel to keep their freshness, and Barbera d'Alba rests in used barrels.

The range is built around Barolo from the estate's named vineyards, including Bricco Voghera, Cerretta, San Rocco, Margheria and Bricco Fiasco, with Barbera d'Alba, Dolcetto d'Alba and Langhe Nebbiolo alongside. The aim, in Luigi's words from the estate's own philosophy, is to find in the bottle all the effort made in the vineyard.

Explore the full Azelia range and order online, with delivery across Malta.