One of my many themes of 2014 was an attempt to get to grips with Nebbiolo, which I’ve always found one of the trickiest of grape varieties to love, as opposed to just admiring. It’s like a brilliant friend with a prickly personality. You like to hang out with them, but about half the time they are having an off-day and it’s kind of difficult. This wine, though, is quite beautiful.
It’s from a 6 hectare vineyard with vines aged 10-55 years. Aged for 24 months in large Slavonian oak barrels. Some of the critics have, I think, been a bit stingy in their ratings of this bottle, which comes from an amazing vintage in Piedmont.
Massolino Barolo 2010 Serralunga d’Alba, Piedmont, Italy
14% alcohol. This is incredibly good. Aromatic nose of warm herbs, spice, tea, roses, black cherries and with a distinct pipe tobacco sweetness. The palate is supple with sweet raspberry and cherry fruit, some pepper, some herby warmth and grippy tannins. There’s real silky generosity to this wine, which is nicely balanced. Fabulous. 95/100 (UK agent Liberty Wines)
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6 Comments on Massolino Barolo 2010
Seeing the decanter in the background, do you think that one possible reason “critics have been a bit stingy” is because they’ve been tasting straight from the bottle?
Just a thought, but perhaps some region’s wines/grape varieties deserve a little “extra” handling before passing judgement?
Could well be, which is why many of the wines I blog about are ones that I’ve drunk rather than just tasted. You can get to know a wine a bit, even following it over a couple of days.
We do love Barolo wines, but with the price for the good ones it is not often that we are lucky to share a bottle.
Had the chance to drink Massolino’s 2004 Barolo recently. Superb, but only just entering an approachable window. Wish I had another bottle to lay down for another five years or so. Interesting that you found the 2010 approachable so early.
Hello from Nemi!
We make 1 kind of wine, Il Furioso Caligulae that we put into bottles after 10! years of coltivating in the Nemivalley. That means that the first 5 years the plants did not recived any kind of “help” and that we throwed away the wine until 2013 that we put 2011 and 2012 into ca 5000 numbered bottles, it is a red wine, Nero d’Avola and MontePulciano d’Abruzzo that we mixed.
Last year no harvest nor 2014 due probably to climatchanging. We have 2 ha and give them more or less nothing, only 3 times of year with aquaramata and zolfo. No added sulphites.
My husband Carlo do not give up, we continue to try to make another “annata” good as in the bottles of Furioso. If you would like to try a bottle of this extraordinary wine, pls let me know..
Maria Tengler Galzignato
Nemi
Yes, I totally agree; this Barolo is a stunner, with truly spectacular aromatics.