Wine Advisor
Giuseppe Mascarello e Figlio, Barolo Monprivato 2015
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Monica Larner
This is a true beauty. The Giuseppe Mascarello 2015 Barolo Monprivato borrows from the best of the Nebbiolo playlist. You get precision, abundance, focus and depth presented in proud and elegant fashion. Monprivato in Castiglione Falletto shows its worth as one of the best-performing sites in both 2015 and 2016. This warmer growing season presents red and purple fruit with cherry, plum and dried blackberry. A second wave of aromas washes over the senses with spice, licorice, tar and crushed limestone. The mouthfeel is stitched tightly together with interwoven layers of acidity, tannin and fleshy fruit.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2015 Barolo Monprivato is a pretty, easygoing Barolo. Ripe red berry fruit and soft contours give the 2015 a real sense of immediacy. Soft and supple, with silky contours, it will drink well right out of the gate. The 2015 is not terribly complex, but it is nicely done. This is the best of the three bottles I have tasted so far.
About the Producer
History Since time immemorial Nebbiolo has been the most highly-prized vine and the wine-growing emblem of Alba and the Langa, and when it is matched with a great wine-making terroir it is capable of expressing itself at sublime levels in wines of remarkable personality, intense bouquet, great smooth tannins, and outstanding possibilities of evolution and resistance over time. The members of the Giuseppe Mascarello family have been growing wines for more than a century and a half, first as farmers running the Manescotto estate in the village of La Morra for the Marchesa Giulia Colbert Faletti di Barolo, and then on their own property since the late 1800s. MAURO MASCARELLO Mauro Mascarello first worked in the winery for many years alongside his father, before taking on the responsibility of running the cellar in Monchiero in 1967, when he also made his first wines. In 1970 he began to vinify the grapes grown on each single vineyard separately, starting with the MONPRIVATO Nebbiolo and then proceeding with the other vineyards. Upon the death of his uncle Natale in 1979, Mauro Mascarello purchased his company, re-uniting it into the Azienda Agricola Giuseppe Mascarello e Figlio. In 1980 he assumed direct responsibility for the family’s MONPRIVATO vineyard, continuing to run it with the same philosophy: application of the techniques that have always been followed to obtain the highest quality of “grape raw material” from every point of view. Famiglia Mascarello Mauro Mascarello's farm is now run with the help of his wife Maria Teresa on the accounts-administration side, and – though not yet full-time – his son Giuseppe, who qualified as a wine technician from the Agricultural and Enological Institute in Alba in 1994. In the years 1982, 1985, 1987, and 1990, a series of purchases completed the ownership of the MONPRIVATO vineyard, and Mauro Mascarello became the only producer of this Barolo cru. The Vineyards The Mascarello family property extends over 15 hectares of vineyards, all located within the Barolo wine-growing area. Some, like the MONPRIVATO vineyard, can now be said to be a part of the family history, while the grapes grown on others were first purchased by Mauro before – having had the opportunity to ascertain their quality – he managed to buy the vineyards for the estate. The Wine The fine wines grown on the Giuseppe Mascarello farm include – alongside Barolo MONPRIVATO – the following Barolos: Bricco, Villero, and Codana from vineyards in Castiglione Falletto, and Santo Stefano di Perno from vineyards in Monforte d’Alba.
