The Shield in Monforte

Giuseppe Mascarello e Figlio is one of the last uncompromising traditionalists in Barolo. The house is run from Monchiero by Mauro Mascarello, the fourth generation, with his daughter Elena, and its reputation rests on Monprivato — the Castiglione Falletto cru it has farmed since 1904 and bottled on its own since 1970, one of the wines by which traditional Barolo is measured.

The Barbera is made the same way. No French barriques, no rotary fermenters, no concessions to the international style that swept the Langhe in the nineties: fermentation in the old manner, then ageing in large Slavonian oak casks that the family bought in the 1950s and has been using ever since. The point is that the wood should add nothing and the fruit should speak.

Scudetto means shield, and the vineyard is named for its shape — a parcel in the Perno district of Monforte d’Alba, on the Santo Stefano hill, planted to Barbera on ground that in a different part of the village would be given to Nebbiolo. The house makes a second Barbera from Santo Stefano di Perno; Scudetto is the single-parcel selection from within it.

The Year

2016 is a vintage the Langhe will be talking about for a long time. A wet spring, then a long, even, moderately warm summer with cool nights and a late, unhurried harvest — the conditions Nebbiolo dreams of, and Barbera, which ripens earlier and keeps its acidity by nature, benefited just as much. The Barberas of the year are dense and dark and full, more so than the grape’s usual register.

In the Glass

Opened at home late on a Friday evening, a little over four years from the vintage.

Deep purple-ruby. The nose was full and direct — black cherry and ripe plum, dark chocolate, a little dried herb and violet, and an earthy, savoury undertone that said Monforte. There was no wood to speak of on the nose, which is the whole idea.

The palate was where the year showed. This was a thick, dark Barbera, fuller than the grape usually gives, with the variety’s high acidity running through it like a wire and holding the weight up. Tannins were modest and soft, as Barbera’s are, and the finish was long and juicy, on cherry and cocoa. A wine of more power than finesse — a fair description of the vintage in general — and none the worse for it.

The same evening included a bottle of Papillon from Orin Swift, a different idea of what a red wine is for.

For a Barolo made in the same spirit from a very different year, see the Massolino Barolo 2014.