Great terroir, timeless wine
For the last 16 years Giuseppe Mascarello's wines have been my benchmark for Barolo. In those days I had no idea how high I was setting the bar. Mascarello is still my benchmark, whether the Freisa, the Barbera or the Barolo wines. Their vineyards - beautifully sited and painstakingly acquired over the last seventy odd years - are a major part of the story. They provide the foundations for the superfine structures we find in the wines. When talking about clones of Nebbiolo, they are convinced that replanting vines propagated in - and therefore perfectly habituated to - that particular bit of vineyard is essential, so they only use massal selection.
The fine-boned fruit quality comes partly from the chalky and grey marl terroir and partly from the high proportion of the Michet Nebbiolo clone that Mauro reckons is so well suited to this land. And then there is the cellar work. Completely unaffected by fashion, wines are fermented in well insulated concrete tanks with no interference except for frequent but brief spraying over the cap of skins. They are then transferred for ageing to old and very large botte. All this contributes to the considerable finesse and immense class of the wines.
Monprivato is the pinnacle of traditional Barolo. The warm 2012 vintage produced an intense and complex wine that will age beautifully. It will require decanting if you are drinking it soon. We have 25 cases of bottles and a few magnums in bond and available for immediate delivery so you still have a chance to enjoy the fruit of this extraordinary vineyard over the next few years. /CW
Offered subject to remaining unsold
