Vintage 1981 in Barolo

I understand that 1981 was not a good vintage in Barolo. Any recent direct experiences that would indicate that it is perhaps worth a try?
Specifically for a Mascarello Monprivato (no notes on CT)?

Hi Gilberto
No personal experience. FWIW the Ratti (La Morra) vintage chart describes the vintage as elegant and normal, though as with these things it is very positively weighted - you have to go back to 1972 for an annata pessima and 1966 for an annata mediocre! So it’s bracketed similarly to 2002, 1994, 1992 & 1984. Not exactly exalted company!
Amusingly they describe 2003 as Elegante

Another resource that appears down at the moment, but can be useful, is the Able Grape search engine, which is designed to focus on wine related sites. When it’s back up, might be worth a try.

regards
Ian

1981 is my birth year and I love Barolo, so I’ve played this game. I haven’t had much luck: Rain before and during harvest, which was as late as November, turned to snow by the time all the grapes were picked. There aren’t very many notes on CT because not much Barolo was bottled. Most was declassified. What was bottled was done in minute quantities and is uneven in quality.

That said, a well-stored Mascarello Monprivato is probably pretty good. Antonio gave it a 92 in 2009 and expressed his surprise at its intensity and full body. He thought it had another decade of life.

If this is a birth wine question, Alsace and Châteauneuf-du-Pape are both very nice in '81. Good luck!.

a tastingnote(Date?)

I’ve had better success with 1981 Bordeaux, but the best traditional producers of nebbiolo are always worth a shot, if not too expensive. A 1981 Giuseppe Quintarelli Amarone della Valpolicella Classico was amazing.

Thank you all, very useful! No it’s not birth year, just a bottle that popped up at an online auction (Roman knows which one). Fill level is good. Current price is 70 - which is already on the high side for such a vintage, but if it stays like that I may give it a thought.
Mascarello classifies the vintage as “medium”, which is their minimum level to bottle the Barolo:
http://www.mascarello1881.com/pagine/ita/news/annate_monprivato.lasso

I have a page in which Angelo Gaja describes 1981 (along with 1980) as a “disaster” (apparently they declassified their entire production). Of course it is only one man’s opinion.

Thanks, Steve. Yes, I had seen that. As written above, G. Mascarello is less negative about the vintage.

Gilberto - As you probably know, this is before the Mascarello’s had a monopole on Monprivato. Between 1982 and 1991, Mauro bought up the rest of the vineyard that the Mascarellos didn’t own from the four other owners.

Thanks, John, I didn’t think about this issue. Do you think this is relevant for the quality?

Monprivato is still not a monopole. Check the Enogea map book. Someone else still owns a small parcel.

81 birth year here…and I’ve never found a Barolo I was in love with from the vintage.

I didn’t realize that. Do they bottle it under their own name?

Giovanni Sordo owns a small piece, but does not bottle it on its own. And he does several other single-vineyard Barolos.

He now does.
http://www.tannico.it/barolo-monprivato-docg-2013-sordo.html

Interesting that this winery has several absolutely top holdings (Monprivato, Rocche di Castiglione, Villero, Gabutti, Monvigliero, Ravera - and others) and one hardly hears anything about them. Not sure many other producers can boast such a portfolio of top vineyards.

I looked up Sheldon Wasserman’s write-up of the vintage in “Italy’s Noble Red Wines” (1991). Here’s what he had to say: