Wine Advisor
Elio Grasso, Barolo Ginestra Casa Mate 2022
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2022 Barolo Ginestra Casa Matè is terrific. Deeply pitched spice, menthol and pine overtones give the 2022 its characteristic balsamic notes. Pliant and deep, with stunning balance, the Casa Matè is without question one of the wines of the vintage. Polished, silky tannins and a burst of red-toned fruit punctuate the finish. This is sublime stuff.
Reviewed by: Monica Larner
The Elio Grasso 2022 Barolo Ginestra Casa Maté is a wine of broad shoulders with deep layers of cherry, wild raspberry and blue flower. This celebrated Ginestra site, rooted in the clay-rich Lequio Formation, is known for producing Barolos of power and structure, and those qualities come to the fore in this vintage, reinforced by a robust 15% alcohol content. The palate is full of volume with a firm, almost chewy texture that carries impressive fruit weight before yielding to chalky tannins. The finish is long and nearly viscous in its concentration. Some 14,000 bottles were produced.
About the Producer
Elio Grasso’s History Born within an old family of Monforte d’Alba with substantial vineyards in the prestigious parts of the town, Grasso may seem destined for a career as a Barolo producer . But instead he chose a different path, at least in the early stages of adult life, choosing to work in the world of finance and living an urban existence that was decidedly different from that of the rural world in which he was born and raised. The wines of Elio Grasso The call of the land, however, eventually proved strong, and the return to Monforte d’Alba was probably only a matter of time. And what he returned to was in fact an impressive patrimony: 18 hectares of vineyards that include first-rate sites such as Chiniera , Casa Matè , and Runcot . Grasso, in fact, just in 1978, decided to ferment and age on his own the grapes of his best plots and was a pioneer in selling both a regular Barolo and also a series of crus . As a producer, Grasso has always been attentive to tradition, but, given the important experiences linked to the numerous generations of his family in the area, he has never wanted to radically transform his wines: both Chiniera and Casa Matè are aged in barrels; only the Runcot , a Riserva , ages in small barrels. Innovation, on the other hand, is represented by two other wines from the line: the excellent Barbera Martina aged in barrels and Educato , a Chardonnay fermented in barrels.
