2003 Barolo Riserva Monprivato Ca' d'Morissio

The 2003 Barolo Riserva Monprivato Cà d'Morissio is a powerful, seamless wine endowed with masses of dark fruit. This is a rather opulent, almost port-like Barolo from Mascarello that captures all of the best qualities of the 2003 harvest while avoiding the hard tannins that plague so many wines. A blast of iron, tar and smoke informs the long, virile finish. This will be a fascinating Barolo to follow over the coming years and decades.

The 2003 Barolo Riserva Monprivato Ca d’Morissio is a powerful, seamless wine endowed with masses of dark fruit. This is a rather opulent, almost port-like Barolo from Mascarello that captures all of the best qualities of the 2003 harvest while avoiding the hard tannins that plague so many wines. A blast of iron, tar and smoke informs the long, virile finish. This will be a fascinating Barolo to follow over the coming years and decades. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2033. Proprietor Mauro Mascarello makes some of the most compelling, traditional wines in Piedmont. Mascarello’s signature Barolo, Monprivato, rarely shows well when young, yet it has a proven ability to transform magically in the bottle, something I have witnessed first-hand with more vintages than I can remember. The irony is that by the time the wines start showing well they are long gone from the market or have appreciated dramatically in price. Importers: Polaner Selections, Mt. Kisco, NY; tel. (914) 244-0404, The Rare Wine Co., Sonoma, CA; tel. (707) 996-4484

The 2003 Barolo Riserva Monprivato Cà d'Morissio is an incredible wine that deftly balances the ripeness and richness of the vintage, but with none of the hard, green tannins that plague virtually all of that vintage's Barolos. The fruit is ripe, soft and generous, but always within the context of Monprivato. These poor, white soils and old vines have preserved a remarkable amount of freshness. While I don't think the 2003 Cà d'Morissio will be one of the finest vintages of this wine, it is nevertheless undoubtedly very fine. My score reflects the ample room for improvement over time that Mascarello's top wines almost always demand. The Monprivato vineyard has proven over time to yield great wines in hot vintages, and that is likely to be the case here as well.