Grape Wine Journey

Maria Teresa Mascarello in the cellar

There are the traditionalists, and there are the modernists.  In Piemonte, this holds true for the 7 vineyards we visited.  Aldo Conterno, Bruno Giacosa and Bartolo Mascarello are no doubt the traditionalists. 

Of the three, the visit at Bartolo Mascarello marked a very strong impression on me.  Probably because the wine maker and owner was a woman – Maria Teresa Mascarello, daughter to the late Bartolo Mascarello.

Maria-Teresa is a petite woman; she speaks very fast and with a very determined tone.  Most of the time she was speaking Italian, but you could feel her determination to make wine the way her grandfather started in 1919.

Oval shaped barrel

When we walked down to the cellar, there were big Slovenia oak barrels used for aging the wines – Dolcetto, Barbera, Freisa and Nebbiolo. 

There was an oval shaped barrel and we all looked puzzle and thought the shape may mean something.  She smiled and said,” space is limited and ceiling is high, so we ordered an oval shape barrel to fit the space!”

Cement Vat

But she is very serious about her wine, the Nebbiolo grapes that made the famous Barolo were fermented in cement vat for 35 to 40 days, then aged in the big barrels for 2 years, and followed with 1 more year of aging in bottles.

On our way to the tasting room, we were all attracted by the colorful labels on the bottles in the storage area.  The labels were all hand drawings from her father.  She said, “In Italy, if you buy 6 bottles of wine, there will be 1 wine with the hand drawings label.” 

In the tasting room, we tasted the Dolcetto, Barbera and then 3 vintages of the Barolo – 2005, 2006 and 2000.

In the tasting room

The 2005 was quite simple and refine, whereas the 2006 was more complex, the tannin was high and would need a bit more time to mature.     

She asked if we prefer the 05’ or 06’ vintage, when most of us said 06’ she was a bit disappointed.  “As a wine maker, I prefer to work with difficult vintage,” she said,” and 05 was a difficult vintage. It will require more skills from the wine maker to make great wines with a difficult vintage.” 

In the tasting room

And then the 2000 vintage, a swirl and a sip, I was saying to myself: “this is the reason I fell in love with Barolo.”

When I said goodbye to the wine maker,” it takes a lot of courage to believe in your tradition and stick with it.  I respect you for that!”