Giuseppe Mascarello e Figlio, Monprivato, Barolo, Italy, 2007

Pristine Condition

Overview of the Wine
Mauro Mascarello and his legendary Barolo Monprivato represent the culmination of more than 130 years of great Giuseppe Mascarello wines.

Visiting Cantina Giuseppe Mascarello & Figli is in some ways a bit like traveling back in time: the winery is full of ancient, enormous botti, and though the largest casks are no longer in use, the family traditions still reign. Fermentations are slow, in concrete and steel; aging is long, in large oak botti ranging from 20 to 70 years of age. There are no tricks to doll the wines up. Farming decisions are made with an eye not only to the current vintage, but to future generations of Mascarellos.

However visiting Mascarello isn’t just stepping into the past: a visit is being welcomed into a space where you can feel the profound connection between the present and what has come before, the thread that ties today’s Piedmont to its rich and wonderful history.

Elena and her brother, Giuseppe, are the latest Mascarellos to carry the thread forward, and they're doing it beautifully, which shows in the wines. The family has some of Piedmont's greatest terroirs, including Monprivato (often called “the Musigny of Barolo”). They do what they need to do to allow those terroirs to shine year after year, in each new vintage’s unique voice.

Mauro’s Langhe Nebbiolo is Barolo in everything but name only. The fruit comes mostly from the Santo Stefano Vineyard in Monforte, with a little Castiglione Falletto in the mix too, and is selected at harvest for this cuvée (vs. the Barolo). It is fermented with a slightly shorter maceration of 15-20 days and then aged in those same, big, ancient botti for 14 months. The idea is to produce a wine with the classic elegance and nuance of the estate that is ready to drink much sooner than the Barolo.

Winemaker
Mauro Mascarello

Grape / Blend
100% Nebbiolo

Origin
Piedmont, Italy

Winemaker's Tasting Notes
Garnet red with orange-coloured highlights; complex, very fruity, elegant, intense, spicy, with flowery touches; excellent body with power and stuffing, demanding, masculine, long, full. Pairs well with red meats in general, game, mature cheeses.

97 Points - Wine Advocate
The 2007 Barolo Monprivato is stunningly beautiful. Monprivato is seldom this rich when it is young. It is most often intensely aromatic, mid-weight and frequently out of balance, especially right after bottling. The 2007 is none of those things. It is a rich, dramatic wine endowed with tons of fruit and a sweeping, enveloping personality. It is also primary and at the beginning of what is likely to be a long, long life. Despite its seeming fragility, Monprivato is one of the most long-lived of all Baroli, even in its weakest vintages. (AG)

96 Points - Wine Spectator
A pure, ethereal Barolo, boasting rose, cherry and strawberry aromas and flavors, with a touch of tar. Very harmonious and elegant, with firm yet well-delineated tannins supporting the whole. Old-school and refined. *Top 100 Wines of 2012* (BS)

94 Points - Vinous
Medium red. Subtle, reticent, very pure nose offers perfumed scents of wild red cherry, rose petal and wild herbs; the most refined of Mascarello's 2007 Barolos. Wonderfully silky and fine-grained on the palate, but with terrific calcaire precision and lift. The wine's highly aromatic red cherry and floral flavors saturate the palate without leaving any impression of weight. This vintage of Monprivato includes about 4% each lampia and rose; the rest is michet, including the juice that normally goes into Mascarello's limited Ca d'Morrisio bottling. The very long finish features harmonious acidity and firm but suave tannins that reach the front teeth. A beauty. (ST) 94+

Product size: 750ml