Last Thursday I started out my day like so many others--with a two-hour drive from my home in Genova, across the serpentine A10 to Savona, north on a wilderness-lined and foggy A26, ending at the little town of Barolo. My chore that day was to taste the 2007 Bartolo Mascarello Barolo that I would be offering to my clients the following week.
I arrived at 10:00AM and was met by Sandro, Maria Teresa Mascarello's first in command who has worked with the estate for almost twenty years. Sandro is the spitting image of a male Maria Teresa. He's slim and petite although forceful, clever and astute. But most like Maria Teresa, he's sincere and umano, an Italian term with a much deeper meaning than merely being human. It's human, but it's also genuine, complete, true to oneself and true to others; it's a beautiful thing to be.
We went about our business, and I soon asked to taste the current 2011 wines that had just been vinified. We then moved to the barrels and tasted all the wines including the powerhouse 2010 Nebbiolo and the sublime 2009. Although I was once intimidated and confused by tasting wines that were still resting in wood, I find that today it's my preferred method of understanding an estate's offerings, let alone the wines' potential. So much can change between the barrel and the bottle, and I've witnessed so many happy wines end up completely miserable by the time they were bottled and released to market. Sadly, this misery is often the preferred expression that global winemakers look for and refer to as consistency and uniformity of their wines, regardless of vintage.
Sandro led me to the office where he had the 2007 opened, waiting to be judged. He poured me a glass, and as I always do, I took no notes and asked very few questions. Rather, my method is to drink the glass and then allow my memory to give me context for the experience. I almost prefer to not even think of what I'm doing at the time. I pretend I'm not that interested, or I imagine that I'm at the table for a social visit.
But something different happened to me when I tasted this 2007. It was like I was reliving an experience with Marie Teresa's wines. That experience was with the 2001 Barolo that received an 84-point rating from a famous journalist. My first thought was if the '01 was an 84, this is surely an 82. The '07 Barolo, like the '01, is a beautifully perfumed, long and elegant wine. It's a tribute to the gentle, graceful side of Barolo in its demeanor and presence, but lurking below there is a powerful thrust of energy waiting to emerge, given time and patience. It's a wine that once finished makes you lick the rim of your glass for the last drop while your nose is immersed in the glass soaking up every bit of lingering bouquet.
Barolo has many faces, and once in a while a truly gorgeous figure emerges. The 2007 Mascarello Barolo has face and figure and heart, and I urge you to take the opportunity to lay a case in your cellar and to watch it unravel over the years into the masterpiece it is destined to be.
This week, I'm delighted to offer the astounding '07 Mascarello, along with the '07 Massolino and the '04 Massolino Barolo Riserva Rionda. They all give different sides to Barolo, one of the greatest wines in the world and one of the reasons why every day I feel so lucky to do what I do. I get to share great wines with people who understand and appreciate them, people like you
My Best,
