1998 Bartolo Mascarello Barolo

Bartolo Mascarello is a 12-acre estate in Barolo, in the Piedmont region of Italy. The estate was founded in 1919 by Giulio Mascarello and was known as Cantina Mascarello until Giulio’s death in 1981. Giulio’s son Bartolo began working with his father in the late 1940s and Bartolo changed the label to "Bartolo Mascarello” in 1982. Until his passing in 2005 Bartolo continued to make traditional, widely-admired Barolos in the small winery under his house. After his death, his daughter Maria Teresa took over the winery, and she continues to make Barolo in the plain but distinctive style championed by her father and grandfather. The estate produces just one Barolo, which is made from a mix of grapes from the family’s four Nebbiolo plots in Cannubi, Rue, Roche di Annunziata and San Lorenzo. The fruit from the four vineyards is co-fermented in concrete vats by indigenous yeasts without temperature controls. Other wines produced are Barbera d’Alba, Dolcetto d’Alba, Langhe Nebbiolo and Langhe Freisa. Gambero Rosso, Italy’s leading wine journal, has noted that Maria Teresa has followed her father’s legacy “with that special Mascarello way of crafting truly authentic bottles from traditional, unhurried maceration and aging in large barrels. (These are) wines that will endure for decades.”

Barolo is one of Italy’s greatest wine appellations. In fact many cognoscenti of Italian wines consider Barolo to be the apex of Italian winemaking. Barolo is sometimes referred to as “the king of wines, and the wine of kings” partly because until the mid-19th century Piedmont was owned by the noble House of Savoy, the historic rulers of northwestern Italy. And the Savoys had a taste for Nebbiolo. Nestled into the rolling hills of Langhe, the Barolo DOCG includes 11 communes, one of which is the town of Barolo. There are 4,200 vineyard acres in the appellation and since the late 19th century growers have tried to identify their best vineyards. By marketing some vineyards as better quality than others, Barolo producers have followed the Burgundian custom of making single vineyard, or “cru” vineyard bottlings. As in neighboring Barbaresco, the Barolo DOCG requires that wines be 100% Nebbiolo, a grape thought of as the Pinot Noir of Italy. Records show that Nebbiolo was grown in the Piedmont as early as the 14th century, and despite being somewhat finicky – it is late to ripen and easily damaged by adverse weather --- Nebbiolo makes highly aromatic and powerful red wines. Until the mid-19th century Nebbiolos of Piedmont were vinified as sweet wines, though that ended in the late 19th century when a French oenologist was invited to Piedmont to show producers how to make dry reds. Barolo was made a DOC in 1966 and upgraded to DOCG status in 1980. Barolos must be aged at least three years, at least two of those years in wood. Barolos are tannic and robust and generally need at least five years to soften into complex, earthy wines.

This red grape is most often associated with Piedmont, where it becomes DOCG Barolo and Barbaresco, among others. Its name comes from Italian for “fog,” which descends over the region at harvest. The fruit also gains a foggy white veil when mature.