February 11, 2024 - Super Bowl LVIII 2024 (Alpharetta, GA): Tasted double blind: Nebbiolo deliciousness. Mahogany wood, spice, rose petals with a slightly reductive finish. I loved it. Called it a 2006 Barolo as it shows like it has more age on it.
January 15, 2024 - 2010 Barolo Tasting; 1/14/2024-1/15/2024: The '10 Bartolo was again an incredible wine, vibrant and really finessed. Tasting it as part of a group of 8 2010s did put it in context, as I think it was a small step below my favorite wines from the tasting (the Monfortino & Cappellano Rupestris), but I'm very excited to follow this over time.
The nose was vibrant, with pure red cherry fruit, mint, fresh roses, orange peel, and a bit of a savory, raw meat or leathery note, distinctly in the background. On the palate, the Bartolo was medium in body, solidly in the middle of the lineup of '10s in terms of concentration. Where this wine shined was the incredible finesse of the tannins, which are barely noticeable. Acidity was medium to high, with the wine coming across as very fresh / vibrant.
December 25, 2023 - Having thieved, murdered and pillaged my way to this bottle I have to say that the effort was well and truly worth it. Right now, it feels like my favourite wine of the year, a rather silly thing given many fantastic wines, but there it is.
As another reviewer notes, this opens very accessible with potency but grace and lovely tar and rose and strawberry. Tannic but not beastly and an almost nutty, sweet aspect to the tannins. The wine then does shut down for a few hours, progressively until around hour 5 I was wondering if I was indeed the idiot that most discerning judges consider me to be. However, from around then it proceeded to open up and develop into something truly glorious.
In addition to the characters noted you get some forest floor and pencil shaving. For a while yesterday the tannins also sat back in the pocket and I started to see why some Barolo makers say their model is Burgundy. On day 2 it has changed again and is a little more firm but still verges on voluptuous. However, this is not flabby curves, this is the full Stormy, curves but taut and terrific.
The 2010 DRC Grands Echezeaux that this was paired with was the 'greater wine' but dash it all, not by much and this had similar architecture in the mouth and for me it gave me the sort of stiffy that results in dangerous medical situations and awkward conversations with family and friends and the local magistrate. For this self-opiniated wine whore, I confess, I declare that I bear the brand of Barolo on my privates and my palate. Pinot is wizard but Neb is the thing.
December 17, 2023 - Fully open, fat and rich flavors. Loads of tar, dark fruit, dried roses and earth. Seemed a little flabby and I wonder if this was a touch advanced given other tasting notes.
May 5, 2023 - As expected, this was super tight and structured immediately out of the bottle. Beautifully aromatic and showing exceptionally pure and delicate fruit right from the start though! I decanted for 3 hours before dinner, which wasn’t long enough in the end, and it actually had shut down a little by the time we poured our first glass. Things started to open up by hour 4-5, at which point this was drinking great! Extremely youthful and primary of course, but one of the best young vintages from Bartolo I’ve tasted for sure. Sadly we’d already drank most of this by hour 5, but the final few sips were fantastic. When I open my remaining bottles of 2010 I’ll give them at least 5-6 hours to breathe prior to consumption! Even still, this was a real treat. The fruit and structure here is just so detailed, elegant, and precise. Fantastic winemaking on top of an amazing vintage. Drinking very well now with a LOT of air, but surely even better in 10+ years.
February 2, 2023 - La Festa del Barolo: Rare Wine Dinner - Bartolo Mascarello (Legacy Records): From a magnum. Really good. Sweeter black fruits, very well structured. It’s still young in style although relatively accessible. Just missing those secondary notes or more of that full integrated impression. Quite lovely though as a wine. Will just keep getting better.
February 2, 2023 - The 2010 Bartolo is an insanely beautiful wine. Despite its youth, the 2010 stood out as one of the highlights, and clearly the highest quality wine, of a vertical of many of the top vintages of Bartolo going back to 1955.
The nose was intensely perfumed with red to dark red cherry fruit, exotic spices, sweet red floral tones, orange peel, and anise. More than the specific aromas, the intensity and harmony of the aromatics stood out.
The flavor profile on the palate was similar, with pure red fruit and citrus tones, red florals, and sweet spice, but the standout was the texture of the wine, perfectly smooth from beginning to end. The wine has a feeling of concentration, but not any heaviness, and the tannins are very fine grained and already well integrated.
While clearly in need of more time to be at its best, the 2010 is enjoyable already for its striking aromatics and incredible textural finesse. This is about as good as it gets, and side by side with other classic vintages like 2008, 2013, and 2016, it stood out as being on a slightly higher quality level.
December 7, 2022 - Very closed and mineral on the nose, deep and very pure fruit.
Beautiful complete and integrated palate. Very harmonious although not aromatically very expressive tonight. Like the 08 I suspect this needed more air.
October 12, 2022 - Poured blind at an informal tasting. Opened about two hours before it was served, but not decanted. When I first tasted it I said “I know this wine.” Firm, but not overbearing structure, classic Nebbiolo aromatics, solid structure, the beginnings of maturity (though perhaps more from storage than actual maturation) as the rim showed some orange. Blind guess was a 2009 Nebbiolo-based wine, so not too far off. Well cared for bottles may prove to be longer lived than the people who own them.
March 3, 2022 - Poured at a tasting, so I don’t know how much air it had, but it was enough. Vibrant aromatics, medium weight on the palate, and firm but not overbearing tannins, the wine was 100% enjoyable, even fun to drink. That said, there’s still a ton of potential, with balanced fruit and structure that can evolve for years/decades. Thankful that our host opened it.