"The greatest young Barolo
vintage I have tasted." -Antonio Galloni
2010 G. Mascarello:
Barolo Santo Stefano di Perno & Barolo Villero
Today, we check out the lesser known side of Giuseppe Mascarello's Barolos.
2010 is a perfect vintage to explore the different sites of Mascarello. In the hands of the Piedmont's great traditionalists, the vintage delivered wines of incredible site specificity. Each site really shines in its uniqueness in 2010.
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When you start tasting the 2010, it's impossible not to feel that it's an important vintage. Even as someone with so much experience in Piedmont, Galloni comes right out and calls the vintage "the greatest young Barolo vintage I have tasted."
There's a lot to be excited about with the vintage. The only catch is that it's a short vintage and the small quantities are being bought quickly by people buying deep.
Just to underscore the rarity, I should mention that these are the only bottles of both 2010 Santo Stefano and Villero in the U.S.
To start with Santo Stefano di Perno, this is Mascarello's one site that's outside of Castiglione Falletto. Santo Stefano boasts the power and rich intensity of Monforte d’Alba. Santo Stefano has only a tiny amount of Nebbiolo planted in it. Mascarello has 1.7ha in Santo Stefano, but only twenty-five percent is planted with Nebbiolo.
The 2010 Santo Stefano shows full throttle, fairly rich intensity that you'd expect from the site and adds an incredibly expressive brightness and lift. The tannins in 2010 are particularly fine which contributes to an impression of seamlessness.
The Villero vineyard is a stone's throw from the hallowed ground of Monprivato. Compared to the Monprivato, the Villero's expression is more plush and generous, more feminine next to Monprivato's taut masculinity. The site itself, of which G. Mascarello owns 0.62 hectares, is southwest of Monprivato and has the same exposition, though there’s more brown clay and gray sand here. The wines are comparatively bolder with seductive fruit, while the spice and flowers come in more subtly. The 2010 Villero delivers some of the most beguiling aromatics that we've seen from this site. It's truly stunning.
I'm very happy to have a second chance to offer these. It's unfortunate that the quantities are still small, but I'm happy to get these beautiful wines in a few more hands.
To order, reply to offers@crushwineco.com or call the store at (212) 980-9463.
Ian McFadden
Director, Fine & Rare Wine
Crush Wine & Spirits