Our Visit to Bartolo Mascarello, Oct. 2022

Date of visit: October 21, 2022

Our Visit to Bartolo Mascarello

Our first visit to Bartolo Mascarello took place in June 2022, and wow, what an incredible visit it was! Ever since then we’d been eager to return, and taste the latest vintages of Maria Teresa’s wines. For two Barolo lovers like us, a visit to Cantina Bartolo Mascarello is totally a dream come true, and is much more than just a tasting. This cellar represents a piece of Barolo history.

When we arrived we received a warm welcome from a new employee, Emmanuel. Before joining the team, Emmanuel was a longtime customer of Bartolo Mascarello, and one of their biggest fans. We sat down at the tasting table, and time seemingly stood still as Emmanuel shared some incredible stories with us about his visits to Bartolo Mascarello, and to some of the area's other legendary winemakers. Emmanuel is totally in love with Barolo and the wines of Langhe, and is extraordinarily knowledgeable on them. There is no doubt that Emmanuel is an awesome new addition to the team at Cantina Bartolo Mascarello. After trading stories about tasting the area's wines and our travels, Emmanuel insisted that we taste some wine. Of course this didn’t require much convincing, as these are some of our favorite wines in the world. We began with 2020 Freisa.

Tasting Notes

2020 Freisa: After spending 9-10 months in large old Slavonian casks, the wine is bottled in the summer, and then spends an additional year in bottle prior to release. Production is a mere 2,000 bottles.

2020 marks the first vintage where Maria Teresa has decided to bottle this as a still wine. In past vintages, this wine had a slight fizz to it, which Maria Teresa calls “vivace”. This was the original way in which Fresia used to be produced many years ago, and up until 2019, Maria Teresa was one of the last, or perhaps even the last person to produce Freisa this way. We tasted the 2019 during our previous visit, and it was one of the most gorgeous examples of this grape that we’ve ever tasted. Our notes on the 2019, and more about the vivace style can be found here, under “Our Tasting Notes”. The decision for Maria Teresa to move away from this original style of producing Freisa was a difficult one. Emmanuel explained that when produced in the vivace style, the wine can be a bit unstable, there can be some bottle variation, and alcohol levels were getting higher than they were comfortable with. Over the last couple of years, we’ve spoken with some other longtime Freisa producers, and they’ve shared the same sentiments, which is why they moved away from the vivace style many years ago. The fact that Maria Teresa has been able to successfully produce her Fresia in this style for so many decades is truly amazing. It’s sad to hear that this change had to happen, but we trust that Maria Teresa has made the right decision. Over her career she’s been responsible for producing some of the finest wines the world has ever seen, and is arguably one of the most knowledgeable people there is when it comes to the grapes of Langhe, including Freisa, so we have no doubt that this decision was necessary.

As we bring the glass to our nose, pronounced, classic, nebbiolo-like aromas of tar and roses emerge, along with anise, crushed raspberries, dried herbs, spices, flowers, and a bit of licorice. The palate delivers juicy crushed red cherries, anise, apple skins, plums, and herbs. The tannins are firm and rustic, but are integrated beautifully, and the wine still manages to be elegant. This is a gorgeous example of Freisa, and although we’ll miss the vivace style, this is by no means a lesser wine in any way, we can’t emphasize that enough.

2021 Dolcetto d’Alba: Normally the first grape to ripen, Dolcetto is usually harvested just a few days before Freisa. This wine spends 9 or 10 months in large old Slavonian casks, and is then bottled in late July. Just 6,000 bottles were produced. Emmanuel explained that Dolcetto is quite a delicate variety, it needs perfect weather conditions, perhaps even more so than Nebbiolo. He believes that 2021 was an outstanding vintage for the grape. The nose reveals beautiful pronounced juicy aromas of crushed dark fruits, plums, smoke, raspberries, flowers, wet stone, as well as hints of licorice and leather. The palate delivers flavors of juicy crushed dark fruits, plums, and leather. The tannins, although pronounced and rustic, are backed up with some pleasant fresh acidity. This is a serious Dolcetto, with impressive structure, and great balance. An absolutely gorgeous example of this grape, one of our favorites that we’ve tried to date.

2020 Barbera d’Alba: Aged for just under two years in large old Slavonian casks. 5,000 bottles produced. Aromas of crushed cherries, raspberries, licorice, tar, and anise. The palate is juicy and fresh, with vibrant acidity, filled with flavors of crushed cherries, raspberries, and some strawberries. Amazing balance and structure. So incredibly enjoyable today, but also capable of lengthy aging. We’d love to check in on this wine in another 10+ years, when we have no doubt it will develop beautifully. What a stunning example of Barbera, wow.

2018 Barolo: The aromas alone swept us off our feet before taking a single sip. Wow. Beautiful, elegant, gorgeous, captivating? Yes, but so much more, it’s tough for us to find the words to describe how incredible the aromas are on this wine. We could sit here smelling it all day and we’d be happy. A kaleidoscope of classic Nebbiolo aromas; roses, leather, anise, flowers, licorice, with heaps of juicy crushed cherries and raspberries, and a faint hint of tar. The palate is silky smooth, almost shockingly so for a new vintage Barolo. The tannins are beautifully integrated, smooth, refined, perhaps even delicate, and are backed by soaring acidity. Lively, fresh, and juicy, with flavors of tart cherries, licorice, strawberries, anise, leather, and some tar, with a persistent finish. Structured, and balanced. 15% alcohol, but for us, this was not detectable at all. Such an incredibly complex wine. Each time we raise the glass to our nose, or take a sip, new aromas and flavors emerge. So incredibly accessible and enjoyable today, for someone who enjoys young Barolo as much as we do, and will surely only deliver even greater drinking pleasure over the next 15-20 years and beyond.

Barolo Chinato: Aromas of cinnamon, baking spices, crushed cherries, leather, and so much more. The mouthfeel is incredible; silky, almost creamy, and viscous. Flavors of tart cherries, sweet brown sugar, caramel, cacao, baking spices, and anise which seemingly linger on forever. What an incredible way to end the tasting. We absolutely love this Chinato.

Thank You

Thank you Maria Teresa and Emmanuel for welcoming us back to your legendary cantina. We greatly appreciate you generously sharing your stunning wines with us, and for spending so much time with us. Grazie mille! We look forward to seeing you again very soon. A presto!