Barolo, Piedmont
Bartolo Mascarello is one of the legendary and historic producers of the Barolo area. The winery has stood as a beacon of staunch Barolo traditionalism since its official inception in 1918.
For more than half a century, Bartolo Mascarello was a towering figure in the Langhe. From just after World War II until his death in March, 2005, he made consistently monumental Baroli, rich, supple, intensely aromatic and deeply colored that have stood the test to time.
But Bartolo’s greatness as a barolista extended beyond making majestic Barolo. He was also the fiercest defender of the traditions responsible for creating some of the most profound and revered wines ever made.
Today, it is the wine world’s great fortune that Bartolo’s daughter Maria Teresa, who took over Cantina Bartolo Mascarello in 2005, makes wine just as her father did. In fact, while every bit as committed to her family’s methods and traditions as Bartolo was, she may have brought even greater elegance and consistency to the wines through her own subtle refinements.
To understand Maria Teresa’s winemaking today, one must first understand the methods and philosophies of her father, a man famously opposed to many of the more modern approaches in terms of winemaking. Bartolo wasn’t shy with his opinions of what was in his view, true Barolo: “I don’t make wines 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”.
Bartolo never wavered from this path; of the very greatest Barolo producers, none were more traditional in their methods. He fermented with the indigenous yeasts in concrete vats without temperature control, allowing the season to leave its full imprint. He continued to use the old “cappello sommerso” technique of holding the cap of seeds and skins within the fermenting wine, rather than punching down. Aging was always in neutral botti including ancient ones made from chestnut, and the malolactic fermentation was allowed to take place in its own time.
The botti aging was fundamental to Bartolo’s approach, both enologically and philosophically; for him the modernist’s use of barrique banalized the character of Barolo, turning it into “a clown with rouged cheeks” and he famously espoused his opposition to their use, and to Italian right wing politics, with his “No Barrique, no Berlusconi” Barolo art label.
Perhaps most importantly he made just one blended Barolo despite having holdings in such prestigious crus as Canubbi and Rocche di La Morra. This is perhaps the most traditional aspect of the Bartolo Mascarello philosophy: the belief that the most balanced, complete Barolo is crafted from the varying qualities of different sites.
Main Wines
Barbera d'Alba
Langhe Nebbiolo
Barolo