2001 Barolo Monprivato

Mauro Mascarello's 2001s showed very well. I have had the privilege of attending more than my fair share of Monprivato verticals, but something tells me future tastings are going to be even more special, as the number of great examples of this wine has never been higher. Imagine tasting the 1999, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 in another 10-15 years' time!

I would not describe Mauro Mascarello as a contrarian on the subject of vintage quality, but he does sometimes appear to be functioning in his own microclimate. "Two thousand four gave very ripe grapes that produced perfumed, balanced, fine wines that taste very good today and have a complete structure. But I'm not sure they have the stuffing to be great. " He added that he nonetheless prefers 2004 and 2003 to his 2001s, which he finds to be open now. "But the 2000s are finer than the 2001s, as their tannins are less rude. " Mascarello still carries out a full three weeks of maceration for his Barolos, including 10 to 12 days of post-fermentation time on the skins. He told me he normally starts drinking his Barolos five or six years after the bottling.

At a recent meeting of my local tasting group the focus was on the wines of Giuseppe Mascarello, one of Barolo's historic producers. For this event we were fortunate to have Mauro Mascarello as our guest. The focus of the evening was Mascarello's most famous wine, Monprivato, and his new luxury bottling the Riserva Ca' d'Morissio. Chef Silvano Fiorindo, a veteran of Cipriani in New York, Buenos Aires and his native Venice, prepared an exquisite meal to accompany the wines. Chef Fiorindo's menu started with a thinly sliced of carpaccio of sirloin. Seared on the outside and cooked perfectly to medium-rare in the center, it was an ideal dish with which to begin the dinner. He then prepared a zucchini risotto that paid homage to his Venetian roots in its style. That was followed by delicious sautéed veal cutlets served with shitake mushrooms, a dish that paired beautifully with our flight of Monprivatos from the 1980s. We finished with a selection of artisan cheesed with which we lingered over the final wines. It was a great evening of wine, food and conversation.

Mauro Mascarello is one of the few remaining traditionalist producers in Barolo. Mascarello owns what is surely one of the most prized vineyards in all of Piedmont, Monprivato, which occupies a stupendous position, sheltered by Bricco Boschis to the north and Bricco Rocche to the south. From this 6 hectare monopole holding Mascarello produces his Barolo Monprivato, a wine of tremendous aging potential which has been among the region's benchmark wines for decades.Mascarello's Barolos are vinified along traditional lines, with fermentation lasting 18-20 days in years with less structure to 20-25 days in more important vintages. The wines then do malolactic in steel and are aged for 36 months in large Slavonian oak casks of various sizes. The wines are bottled without clarification or filtration in the summer of the fourth year following the harvest. Mascarello's Riserva Ca'd' Morissio spends anywhere between 48-52 months in oak and is released when Mascarello feels the wine is ready. Of the terroirs Mascarello works with, Villero is the most feminine, early maturing and easy to understand. Santo Stefano gives the biggest, most old-style wines, with tannins that can sometimes seem quite hard and rough, while Monprivato is somewhere in the middle. When Monprivato is young its tannins and general lack of color can make it a tough wine to evaluate. But make no mistake about it, Monprivato is one of the most long-lived, expressive and profound Barolos around. Among the top Barolo bottlings, it also remains one of the best relative values in the region.