Thanks Otto, fascinating reviews.
I’m especially curious about Cascina Fontana and Scarzello. Can you tell us a bit more about the wineries? They are either not mentioned in WA or Vinous, or not reviewed very positively. E.g. has there been recent change at Fontana?
To my understanding Cascina Fontana is still spearhaded by Mario Fontana, the same man who founded the winery in 1995. And from what I’ve understood, the style hasn’t changed one bit from the day one. They are staunchly traditionalist wines through-and-through. Very savory and structure-driven - but also relatively light and delicate wines for Barolo.
No previous knowledge about Scarzello, this was the first Barolo I’ve had from them. A very small family business, annual production <50,000 bottles, of which about half is Barolo. Also very old-school; prolonged maceration times and all wines (always down to Langhe Nebbiolo and Barbera) aged in 2500-liter Slavonian oak botti.
Unless there are more Scarzellos around, then you could listen in on Levi’s interview for a deep dive:
Thanks Mikael, that IDTT will be a great way to learn about the winery! I wouldn’t have thought of looking there.
For what it is worth, here are my trip notes from when I visited Scarzello back in 2003.
G. SCARZELLO
Located in the town of Barolo, I had a hard time finding their unmarked house. Founded 1903 they own 5 hectacres in the Sarmassa cru in Barolo. Met with Federico, age 27 and his mother Gemma. While most of the three hour conversation was with Francesco, Gemma regularly threw in supporting information whenever she had time to join us. She and her husband Francesco (whom I did not see) have been running the winery for some years. It looks like Federico is now playing a central role in things. He is the fourth generation of Scarzello winemakers. He studied enology in Alba and his first vintage fully involved was 1997. Gemma said he was even more traditional than his father. Federico said this was not just because his father (and grandfather) made wine in a certain way. For him tradition is not a technique – he doesn’t spurn modern means of improving quality – it is a winemaking philosophy. Maceration and vessel type are the most important cellar factors in determining the character of a Barolo. He believes long maceration in neutral wood best expresses the classic character of the grape and land. He respects the skill of producers like Clerico and Scavino but sees their wines as “not being Barolo.” Yet he quite admires R. Voerzio’s ability to use long maceration and a mix of old and new barrique to somehow end up with traditional character. The main shortcoming is of course the price of his wines.
He is rather dissatisfied with the price trend of Barolo now. Quality and prices should rise equally. The quality has risen over the last 10 years, but the prices have risen far out of proportion. The press has further created an artificial market. If a critic praises a wine, that producer immediately jacks up his prices. Another producer, who makes wines just as good but doesn’t get all the press, can’t jack up his prices or his wines won’t sell. He would not want to price his wines so that only collectors can buy them. Wine is for drinking. Yes, it must be stored and held, but this should be for maturation, not for “label collecting.” When a bottle is too expensive, he feels nervous about opening it and enjoys it less. He prices his wines at a level that he himself prefers to pay for a Barolo – about EU30.
We spent some time talking about 2002, with him explaining how the September 3rd hail storm got trapped over the Barolo valley wiping out whole vineyards. Being a very small producer, they refused to make Barolo in very bad years to protect their image of quality. If an unknowledgeable consumer drinks a Scarzello wine from a poor vintage, they might assume Scarzello is a poor producer. In 2002 (like 1992), they only made Langhe Rosso, Roero Nebbiolo d’Alba, and a tiny bit of Barbera (no Barolo, no Dolcetto).
They produce a Barolo normale and a Barolo cru Merenda. All their Nebbiolo comes from a small part of the southern edge of Sarmassa with SW exposure. Dolcetto is planted on the SE slope as the SW slope gets too hot for Dolcetto due to the relatively low altitude. The cru is named Merenda after his grandfather’s old cascina there. We tasted the just released 98 Merenda and the 99 normale. Both were damn fine and I got a bottle of the former. He said 99 was quite hot, but with cool nights leading to very concentrated grapes and wines that are more masculine than those of 98. He also thinks 2001 will be the best of the 1995-2001 string.
Federico said 99% of making good wine occurs in the vineyard. In the past, it was just the opposite. Farmers planted grapes as if they were any other fruit or vegetable. Little care was given to viticulture or clone selection. So all the focus of making good wine was put on the winemaker. Since 1990, he has been slowly replanting the 50+ year old wines with new ones (3% Rose, the rest ½ Lampia and ½ Michet.). He said that 50 years is about the maximum age in which Nebbiolo can have healthy production. Rose is added to give the Barolo more perfume in its youth. The normale is now made with only younger vines and the cru is a mix of younger and older.
In terms of production, both Baroli are macerated on the skins for 30-32 days and then rest for three years in botti. As they only have two botti, sometimes the normale is put in 4 year old tonneaux if they run out of room. Barolo might even be put into his single seven year old barrique if there is not enough wine to fill a tonneaux. As he explained it, using large barrels is quite difficult as bacteria starts to grow as soon as they are empty. He never wants his barrels empty, always keeping them full of wine and not bottling until the next vintage is ready to go into barrel. So of the two botti, one held ’01 cru and the other held ’01 Barbera (the 2000 Barolo was in tonneaux at the time). He would have already bottled the Barbera, but since he had no 2002 Barolo, he filled the botti with Barbera to keep it full (Barbera Riserva!). For this same reason, he will not use wooden tini as they are empty most of the year. Before bottling, the wine is transferred to stainless steel tanks for two weeks to let particles settle to the bottom. He then does a very light filtration to remove any remaining particles. He sees these as risky sediment that might cause a bitter taste, but expects neutral sediment to naturally develop over time in the bottle.
For what it is worth, here are my trip notes from when I visited Cascina Fontana back in 2003.
CASCINA FONTANA
Mario Fontana, age between 30-40, runs this winery located in the Perno frazione of Monforte His vineyards are all located in Castiglione Falletto. I had asked Maria Teresa Mascarello (daughter of Bartolo) which producers she would recommend I visit. She recommended this winery as producing fine traditional wines (Mario “coincidently” is Maria Teresa’s cousin). When I first called, his wife said he was out of the country on business in Belgium. The second time I called, he immediately knew who I was, agreed to an immediate visit, and said he would come meet me in central Monforte as his place was hard to find. When he arrived, he apologized that he had forgotten an existing appointment and only had time for a cup of coffee. So we chatted about vino for a while over a cup of coffee.
He seems to think it is the most natural thing in the world that he is a traditional producer, though he admitted he is among a shrinking minority. He produces only 18,000 bottles annually, 3,000 of which make it to the US. He makes a tiny bit of Dolcetto, plus a Barbera and Barolo, all of which are non-cru. The Barolo is a blend from the two Castiglione Falletto crus of Villaro and Valletti (Valletti is at the southern corner of Mariondino and Rocche di Castiglione). He too commented on the inaccuracy of the maps in “A Wine Altas of the Langhe.”
We set up another appointment for a winery visit a few days hence. Then he had me follow him to his car where he handed me a prepared box with a bottle each of 98 Barolo and ’01 Dolcetto d’Alba. Being of very small production, the Dolcetto was labeled “Riserva per Gli Amici” (reserved for friends). Once again, I was overwhelmed by Piedmontese generosity.
A few days later, we met again in Morforte and I followed him way up to Perno. Just before arriving, he stopped me to enjoy an amazing 270 degree view of the Barolo region. His winery is located right in his house. This is not unusual in Piedmont. However, some wineries are large places of production and business that also have living quarters. Conversely, others are dwellings where the basement devoted to winemaking. This was the latter case. I tried all three of his wines and found them all admirable. I particularly enjoyed the gustily singing bottle of Dolcetto he gave me, and wish I could find more Dolcetto here of comparable character. The Barolo had an intense dusty character like one often finds in Tuscan wines. All of his wines were very full and muscular without being coarse or inflated.
Mario and his family are very casual people and made me feel quite at home. His wife brought in a chuck of parmigiano for us to munch on (note: Several times I had producers break out huge chucks of parmigiano for us during tastings. Estimating by the size, they would have cost $30-40 in the US. Ah, to live in Italy.). We went outside and walked around his yard, looking at his extensive hazelnut trees orchard, watching his kids play, and eating a few local chocolates. He said he has no interested in making “constructed or manipulated” wines. He is a traditional wine producer because he is a traditional person, has a traditional family and a traditional life. He likes it the way this is. He is his wines and his wines are him. He drinks them everyday. He is happy if his friends like them (God knows how people like this pay the bills, but they seem to be doing just fine). He has just started exporting to parts of Europe and the US. A group in Milan bought a bunch of his wines and asked him to change the classical label to something gaudy yellow. This bothered him as it was not about what was in the bottle but how it would look in a store window.
Chris, thanks for sharing those snapshots. 18 years old but still relevant and interesting!
Thanks Rich. Those were both great visits. Sorry the posts were so messy grammatically. If only I had the English skills of Otto! 
So this thread had me read up more on Cascina Fontana. And it sounds like the kind of Nebbiolo i search for, so i bought a few 2016 Barolo’s. So thanks for the notes again Otto.
How come I missed this thread until now? Fantastic notes, I’ll definitely add Scarzello and Cascina Fontana to my radar.
That’s really a beautiful collection of Amarone della Valpolicella. It’s a shame to sell them though…
what?
Either a slippy finger or a bug in the platform
https://www.wineberserkers.com/t/vintage-amarone-collection-for-sale/299988
I think I made a mistake… sorry