Massolino Barbera d’Alba 2022 (6 Bottles) Langhe, Italy

$307.00 GST Included

AUSTRALIA WIDE SHIPPING INCLUDED

Screwcap. Massolino’s two hectares of Guyot-trained vines in a limestone-rich Serralunga vineyard are now complemented by Barbera from Monforte d’Alba. The 2020 was fermented for 10 to 12 days in cement tanks and was raised in the same vessels for a short period before being bottled and released.

The 2020 is up there with the Dolcetto in the ‘wow’ stakes. With waves of red plum, white florals and nutmeg/clove spice notes, it’s even more fragrant, pretty and altogether classier than usual. The finish is long and perfumed. A super release and another super value.

A wonderful video of the Massolino Winery

Drawn from an ideally positioned 3.2 hectares within the Serralunga postcode and entirely raised in tank, Massolino’s little sweet one has a wonderfully flowing texture for this variety. It’s bright and juicy, with flavours of Satsuma plum and red and black cherry, as well as aromatic violet bouncing around the palate. It’s long and refreshing with a chalky acidity, in the best Dolcetto manner.

“The 2018 Dolcetto d’Alba is your typical wine for everyday drinking, as far as Piedmont wines go. It is soft and delicate and shows a bit more freshness in the glass. It’s a nice vintage in terms of pulp and easy-drinking appeal, and also because the total acidity is more approachable. Drink it within the next two years or so, with any simple pasta ragù.” 88 points, Monica Larner, #243

“One of the most distinctive wines in this range, the 2018 Dolcetto d’Alba is a powerful wine that really shows the grip and intensity of Serralunga in its structural feel. Smoke, iron, incense, dark spice, menthol and licorice add character to a rich, flavorful Dolcetto that will shine at the dinner table. The Dolcetto is often a standout at Massolino, as it is again in 2018.” 90 points, Antonio Galloni, Vinous

“Very bright with a purple edge to the color. Lots of dark cherries, violet and licorice that extend to a fleshy, medium-bodied palate. I love the crunch and the succulence here. An excellent Barbera d’Alba that can be enjoyed in the next five years. Drink or hold.” 92 points, James Suckling

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REVIEWS

Wine & Spirits Magazine ‘Winery of the Year 2010’
“The 2007 Baroli are some of the most viscerally thrilling young wines I have ever tasted. The 2007s are similar to the 2004s, but with more substance. The wines are radiant, intensely perfumed and totally seductive, yet not at all heavy, in a style that offers the textural richness of a warm vintage with the aromatics of a cool year.” Antonio Galloni, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, February 2011

“This is a fabulous set of Baroli from brothers Roberto and Franco Massolino. The wines capture the essence of the vintage – while not being excessively marked by the year – in the house’s classic, firm style. Alcoholic and malolactic fermentations are done in cement and the wines are aged exclusively in large, neutral casks.” Antonio Galloni, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, Feb 2011

ABOUT

Founded in 1896, Massolino Winery, is based in and around the town of Serralunga, one of the prime sub-zones of the Barolo DOC.

The Massolino family’s greatest asset is of course their 23 hectares of (mostly) Serralunga vineyards, including choice parcels of such famous sites as; Margheria, Parafada and the legendary Vigna Rionda. We say ‘mostly’ as the Massolino clan recently purchased a slice of the Parussi cru in Castiglione Falletto. Serrralunga, on the eastern edge of the Barolo DOCG, produces some of most profound and long lived Barolo. It is the home of great names such as Giacomo Conterno and Bruno Giacosa’s Falletto vineyard. The wines often have an extra stuffing of intense Nebbiolo fruit as well as a remarkable minerality that plays on both the freshness of the tannins and gives the wines a certain ferrous edge when young.

It is fair to say that Massolino holds the most remarkable collection of vineyards in Serralunga, amongst the smaller, quality focused producers anyway. The quality strides at this estate over the last 10-15 years have been remarkable with significant advances made, particularly in the vineyards. Certainly there has also been refinements in the cellars, firstly by Franco Massolino and then by current winemaker Giovanni Angeli (ex Vajra) who has been working with Franco since the 2005 harvest. As always however, it has been the work in the vineyards and the search for expressive and perfectly ripe fruit that has driven the rise in quality at this estate. The resultant improvement here has been very good news for both the commune and Barolo in general. Today the wines of Massolino sit comfortably among the finest of the region – they are wines of wonderful purity and elegance. They are exclusively aged in large casks, so they are ‘traditional’ and yet they offer the best of the “old” and “new” worlds: pure, aromatic, textural, deeply flavoured wines that are at the same time precise, vibrant and distinctly regional. These are wines that score extremely highly on our deliciousness scale. Equally important, these wines are remarkably well priced when compared to the other top producers of the area.

Fine Wine Cellars

On the one hand, our role as a merchant of all things wine & spirits could not be simpler. We aim to source the most delicious, the most authentic, and the highest quality products possible from Australia and around the world in order to offer them to our clients. We live or die by how well we perform this task. Of course things are rarely as simple or as easy as they seem. Hunting for wines & spirits is no different. Apart from the months spent travelling, countless days and evenings spent tasting and the outrageous wine expenditure in the name of ‘research’, sourcing quality wine and spirits requires expertise and experience. Understanding the potential of a producer and their products is much more than just a slurp and a spit.