A current thread regarding a dislike of Italian wines has prompted me to write this note about last night’s wine.
I have a love/hate relationship with Barolo. Too often I find there is a battle in my mouth between tannins and fruit, with tannins the victor. If the wine is too young, that battle is ferocious, but if the wine is too old, the fruit is beaten and all I am left with is acidity and tannins. Dinner proceeds, and half a bottle of wine remains. I question the wisdom in continuing my pursuit of that beautiful bottle of Barolo since it is the most frustrating of wines, but when I come across one that is beautiful, it erases all thoughts of my disappointments and frustrations, and reminds me that this, along with Bordeaux, provides my biggest thrills in wine.
The 2000 Mascarello Barolo was just that wine. The first sniff was as if I was presented with a bouquet of roses. The palate is ripe and rich and starts out with red berries and ends with dark cherries. There is some black pepper, spice, and florals, all balanced and well integrated with the acidity. The tannins are soft, and, for me, this is a perfect time to enjoy this wine.
Unlike the upfront fleshiness and appeal of many California wines, a lot of Italian reds demand time in the cellar. At least IMO, that’s why vintage variation can be such a pleasant thing - 2000 can be so nice right now given the heat & ripeness of the vintage, whereas the same wine from 2001 would still be tight and unyielding, and the '99 Bartolo Mascarello is in all likelihood downright surly today.
But as one of the other posters mentioned in the thread Alan started on Italian wine, I think one of the prerequisites for these wines is that your palate has to be attuned to acidity, and in most cases these are not stand-alone drinkers, but really need to be paired with food.
As I’ve gotten older, I also find myself buying a lot more Chianti/Sangiovese than Nebbiolo. This is partly for pragmatic reasons, as I have quite a bit of Nebbiolo in the cellar already, but also because I find that most modern day Chianti is both well-made and has a wider drinking window. I think you mentioned Felsina in the other thread - at least IMO, a great producer making reasonably priced wines, and one I buy widely because you can enjoy, as a current example, the 2011 Chianti Classico tonight, while you give the 2010 CCR and the 2009 CCR Rancia time to develop in your cellar - and each of those wines will in all likelihood provide pleasurable drinking before that 2008 Damilano Barolo that Alan posted about is ready to roll & roll.
BTW, Diane, if you have it, the '98 Bartolo Mascarello is another very pretty wine drinking well right now from this producer.
Easy to generalise, but so many 2000s from the vintage have been approachable young - not a vintage that I especially want to backfill from, nor would be confident cellaring past 20-25 years, depending on producer of course), but I agree, they are unusually approachable.
Just had both the '99 and '01 Bartolo Mascarello on Friday evening. Both wines were somewhat young, especially the '01, but still were very pleasurable to drink. They had gotten plenty of air during the day, and that helped, but despite being fairly tannic, they both had plenty of fruit to balance it all out. Apparently, it was an especially good showing for the '01, which I understand has a fair amount of bottle variation (this is the first time I’ve had it).