Barolo 2013 150cl

Bartolo Mascarello's 2013 Barolo is made with the estate's traditional blend of vineyard sites. This includes the San Lorenzo cru that will go offline starting with the 2015 vintage. This is a classic and traditional interpretation of Nebbiolo with an absolutely pristine and polished flavor profile. The bouquet opens to pressed violet, cassis, licorice, wild sage and cola. There is an elegant mineral imprint as well with rusty iron and iodine. This edition is evermore solid and centered compared to the warmer 2012 vintage. It will also require extra bottle aging in order to bring out its natural, but nuanced intensity.<br/>Maria Teresa Mascarello has finished replanting her 4,000-square-meter parcel in the San Lorenzo vineyard. She had left the land to rest for two years after the old vines were ripped out. That means the traditional blend of sites used to make her Barolo—Canubbi, San Lorenzo, Rue and Rocche di La Morra—has been temporarily halted. Starting with the 2015 vintage (while San Lorenzo is offline), the new blend of sites will be Canubbi, Rue, Rocche dell'Annunziata and Moro di Bussia. The San Lorenzo fruit will return (in part) by the 2020 vintage. Because she bottles many of her wines in the fall, I did not taste her lower-end reds at this time. Barolo enthusiasts will remember the famous Mascarello label with the hand-written protest slogan "No Barrique, No Berlusconi" referring to the disgraced Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. In light of the bi-partisan political fractures in the United States today, I asked if she would make a "No Trump" Barolo. She told me she already had, as a joke, and sent the bottle to her importer.

Round and smooth, with a core of cherry surrounded by leather, licorice and underbrush flavors. Tobacco and mineral accents mingle and add complexity as this cruises to a lingering aftertaste, building to the expansive finish. Best from 2020 through 2040. 1,350 cases made.  –BS