National Treasure: 2014 Giuseppe Mascarello Monprivato
Posted on: 02/1/19 7:36 PM
Any time we offer the wines of Giuseppe Mascarello it is always special. This is what Italian wine lovers live for. Hauntingly seductive, sensuous, and profoundly soulful, Mascarello’s wines are some of the most coveted bottles from Piedmont, much less Italy. They are, regardless of the vintage, consistently immersive masterpieces, always thrilling us with equal portions of power and sublime grace.
While there are only a few cases available, we are still extremely excited for the 2014 release of Monprivato. Although the vintage does not contain the same frantic sizzle from the critics as 2013 or 2015, do not be fooled: this is a major year for Piedmont.
2014 Giuseppe Mascarello Barolo “Monprivato”
“The finest 2014s are some of the most thrilling young Barolos I have ever tasted,” reported Antonio Galloni. “The best 2014s possess extraordinary aromatic intensity, finely sketched fruit and silky tannins that are the result of fully ripe skins and seeds. Some of the 2014s have a grace that recalls 2008, others are a bit more potent in feel, especially where yields were low.” We adore many of the 2014’s for their classical stature, expansive, thrillingly perfumed aromatics and an ethereal silkiness that, when in the hands of legendary producers such as Giuseppe Mascarello, are downright stunning.
More About the Wine
“Only the memory of the past, can open the way to the future,” proclaims the elder Mauro Mascarello, the last remaining giant of the great Barolo generation that included Giovanni Conterno and Bartolo Mascarello. For those unfamiliar with the wines of Giuseppe Mascarello, that’s all you really need to know. These are treasured monuments of Piemonte, deeply steeped in the traditions of the past. Mauro, an arch-traditionalist, is simply holding onto what his family has been doing for the past hundred and fifty years. In the vineyard that means old fashioned extensive pruning and thinning in the vineyard to set up a rigorous yield, long fermentations, and lengthy aging in old botti (very large wooden casks).
We can’t talk about Guiseppe Mascarello without talking about Monprivato. Prized as a special vineyard since at least the 1600s, for many this is Italy’s La Tâche. And like La Tâche, it is a monopole–completely owned by the Mascarello family. Not only is Monprivato renowned for its great terroir (gentle hill of silty, calcareous, packed with active limestone), but much of it is also planted to one of the finest strains of Nebbiolo, the Michét variety, which was first introduced into the vineyard by Maurizio Mascarello in 1921. The special soil coupled with the haunting refinement found in Nebbiolo Michét, produce one of the most complex and elegant interpretations of Barolo to be found. Period. Do not miss this extraordinary wine!
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