1996 Barolo

A visit with Bartolo Mascarello always lasted several hours. Conversations in his office touched on many subjects, but politics and the state of Barolo were always central to the discussion. By the time I met Mascarello he was already confined to a wheel chair, but I never saw his spirits diminished in any way. The gleam in his eyes conveyed an element of boyish mischief that I don't think he ever lost, even as his health deteriorated in subsequent years. Times were very different when the 1996 Barolo was released. Mascarello was embroiled in his polemics with the more modernist Barolo producers who received most of the critical acclaim during that era. It was also a much simpler time. An appointment was easy to come by, I rarely saw anyone else at the winery, and there was no limit to the wines visitors could buy. Mascarello's 1996 is a super-classic, dark Barolo that will thrill readers lucky enough to own it or find it. From magnum, it is even more special.

This wine was tasted as part of a vertical tasting held in London in April 2016. The wines were arranged in five thematic flights. The fairly tale duo of 1989 and 1990 form the core of our third flight, with 1988 and 1996 as bookends. Once again, there are plenty of surprises. The 1988, 1990 and 1996 are brilliant, while the 1989 is less impressive than it has been in the past.

Ultra-traditionalist Bartolo Mascarello produces 18,000 to 20,000 bottles of Barolo in "a good typical year like 1998," but offered just 12,000 from '96, a vintage that began with a problematic flowering. His sole Barolo bottling is a classic blend of fruit from multiple sites. (On an earlier visit, Mascarello told me: "I don't make wine with fantasy names. I don't make crus I don't make wine in barriques My wines don't have perfume of vanilla and Limousin oak. I'm the last of the Mohicans.") Mascarello prunes short, and has green harvested for many years. "Now it the mode," he notes. Mascarello still vinifies his Barolos in concrete tanks without benefit of temperature control.

Mascarello describes 1996 as a classic vintage. 1997, he says, was characterized by a very early harvest and therefore much less typical. Mascarello is able to pick his Barolo parcels in 10 days, and in '97 he finished by the end of September. 1995, he adds, offers finesse but is "less important"; he rates it about equal in quality to 1993. Both '95 and '96 featured short crops due to hail and problems during the flowering. Mascarello humid old cellar was almost empty at the time of my visit, as he had just bottled the '97 light wines and the '95 Barolo, the latter almost a year ahead of his normal schedule so that he would have a Barolo to sell next March. (Mascarello sold off his '94 last spring because he felt it did not have enough body.) x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D Mascarello, who describes himself as "the last of the Mohicans," is one of the few remaining strict traditionalists: he uses no barriques and offers no cru bottlings (his single Barolo is a blend of his holdings, with old vines in Cannubi and a large parcel in Rocche di Torriglione in the Annunziata district of La Morra the most important components. The wines remain on their skins for about 25 days, but sometimes longer if ambient temperatures are low. x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D On my recent visit, I had the chance to taste Mascarello great '64 from magnum. This reddish orange wine offered a fabulous nose of plum, red currant, dried rose, underbrush and Graves like leather and hot stones; lovely penetrating sweetness and exotic fruit notes in the middle palate; and terrific follow through, with fairly soft tannins. It rated a solid 95, and was still full of life.