2019 Barolo Monprivato
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Tasting notes
Tasted next to the 2020 vintage, the Giuseppe Mascarello 2019 Barolo Monprivato delivers a much darker and richer presentation of fruit. You get freshness and brightness with Bing cherry, cassis and dried pomegranate. The 2019 vintage is clearly more complex and offers more overall depth. As Elena Mascarello tells me, "2020 is all light, and 2019 leans into darkness." In this case, that darkness is what we look for in a wine to put aside in the cellar.
Critic scores
Average Score
Walter Speller, jancisrobinson.com
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
Compared to the 2018, the 2019 Barolo Monprivato offers a more powerful nose with more nervous energy in its notes of licorice, raspberry liqueur, rosemary, and sweet earth. Ripe and powerfully structured, with a midweight feel but incredible intensity and length, it has a great level of completeness, with an earthy drive and ripe tannins that hold through its long finish. Drink 2025-2055.
Castiglione Falletto. Palish ruby. Beautifully perfumed nose and gorgeous pure raspberry and tannins to suck on. Stunning. (WS)
The 2019 Barolo Monprivato is a tightly wound, classically austere wine from the Mascarello family. Vibrant acids and beams of tannin cut through a core of red-toned fruit, orange peel, white pepper and flowers. Readers should be in no rush to open the 2019, as it is pretty reticent. Even so, there's tons of energy here. I have had the 2019 twice so far. The 2019 is one of the best Monprivatos in recent memory, although I note that a second bottle was quite a bit more backward than this one.