Giuseppe Mascarello
Piedmont • Italy
- Sub RegionBarolo
- RegionPiedmont
- CountryItaly
- ProducerGiuseppe Mascarello
Introduction
Giuseppe Mascarello’s wines have always occupied a special place in my heart. I remember walking the famed Monprivato vineyard and being floored at how stunning the site was when visiting on my honeymoon. Combine that site with arguably one of the best winemakers in Italy, and the remarkable wines are no surprise. The do, however, take time to show the potential of this site and producer; oftenmore than a decade before these wines begin to reach their fullest expression.
Foundational Wine
These wines are from the last of a generation of traditionalists. Mauro Mascarello was a contemporary of Giovanni Conterno and Bartolo Mascarello; with their passing, he is the last of the foundational winemakers of Piedmont. Mauro prescribes to the idea of extended fermentations and aging in old Botti. Following 20 years of bottling only one Barolo blended from across sites, he realized that Monprivato was so unique it needed to be bottled separately. In 1970, he did so, which at the time was a significant shift in thinking for a traditionalist.
He later went one step further and purchased the entire Monprivato site in the 1980s. In replanting, he carved out the heart of the site using a Michet clone originally planted by his grandfather Morissio in 1921, and from that his top wine Cà d’Morissio was born. Mauro makes a number of other single vineyard Baroli, coming from Santo Stefano di Perno and Villero, as well as fantastic vineyard designate Barbera, Freisa, and Dolcettos. While the estate is still guided by Mauro, his son Giuseppe is now firmly at the helm and will be able to shepard this wonderful winery into the future.