I have felt the sun on my face, and it is drinking Mascarello wines on an otherwise ordinary Wednesday. Mauro and Giuseppe Mascarello along with Importer Alberto Panella paid the shop a visit. I tried to play it cool in the face of what they may have to share…
Mauro Mascarello is a producer of Barolo in the traditional style, with minimal intervention, and no fining or filtering prior to bottling. The wines are sleek, elegant, vivacious, and incredibly aromatic. This Wednesday I had the opportunity to taste the Dolcetto D'Alba Bricco in Castaglione 2005, the Barbera D'Alba Scudetto 2004, the Barolo Villero 2003,and the Barolo Monprivato 2000. The Dolcetto was a delicious example, a mélange of black and red fruits with floral overtones and a firm underlying tannic structure, The Barbera, fresh and vivacious, a high-toned explosion of red-berry fruit and floral aromatics.
The Barolos, from the Villero and Monprivato respectively were a study in contrasts, and yet still displayed the Mascarello elegance and Traditional style. The Villero, from the 2003 vintage displayed an intensity that matched the notoriously hot summer.
Coming from a vineyard that has a mix of calcerous and ferrous soil types, the iron rich soil makes itself known in the strength of the wine. Intense, with strong underlying tannins, and a bit of reticence on the nose, this wine was just starting to display some of the secondary characteristics that Barolo is known for. Hints of orange peel, rose petal, and spice peeked out from around the strong core of fruit and tannin. I would give this wine a couple more years to really develop, and then enjoy years of fine drinking. The Monprivato was a Contralto in her stride, Deep-timbered, pure, ethereal. The Monprivato vineyard is a monopole, belonging entirely to the Mascarello family. A stunning site for the Nebbiolo grape, its calcerous soils provide for the minerality, freshness, and beautiful aromatics of the wines grown here. Wild strawberry, dried cherry, rose-petals, cigar-box, and a length of finish that exceeds taste and mouthfeel, this is a wine that sings itself into the nooks and crannies of your memory.
