2016 Giuseppe Mascarello e Figlio Monprivato Barolo DOCG 750 ml

The Giuseppe Mascarello e Figlio Monprivato Barolo is the stuff of legend—one of the greatest single-vineyard designates in the world, a lithe, thoroughbred Nebbiolo that offers up a hypnotizing bouquet of truffle, sweet spice, dried roses, tobacco, and autumnal undertones. 

Whether you’re a seasoned collector locking in a bucket list favorite or looking to add your first truly serious age-worthy wine to the cellar shelf, this is an all-time classic, capturing everything we love about Barolo, and we’re not the only ones. “Mascarello Barolos have been personal favorites for decades,” says Vinous’s Antonio Galloni, who has collected these wines since the 1980s. The Monprivato vineyard is in his estimation “one of the region’s undisputed grand cru sites.”

We felt privileged to lay eyes on the Monprivato vineyard—considered nearly sacred by a number of collectors—a few years ago on a trip through the region. It’s been recognized as a special plot of land since the early 17th century; the Mascarello family consolidated control of it in the late 1980s, making it the rare Piedmont equivalent of a Burgundy Grand Cru monopole. 

Thanks to traditional fermentation and centuries of stewardship by one family, this wine is perfectly reflective of its terroir. The 17-acre site sits on the southwest slopes in the town of Castiglione Falletto, where a unique mix of soils, calcium-rich white and blue marl softened by clay and sand, accounts for this wine’s otherworldly delicacy and tension.

Fourth-generation winemaker Mauro Mascarello is a giant of Barolo and one of its longest-tenured figures, bridging Barolo’s past with the present. “Mauro [Mascarello] makes some of the most compelling, traditional wines in Piedmont,” writes Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, singling out his Monprivato as “one of the handful of Italian wines than can hold its own with the best being made anywhere in the world.” 

Mauro builds on the tradition laid down by his forbears, but it was his brilliant insight to bottle a single-vineyard expression of the Monprivato for the first time in 1970. The result was a wine of sculpted physique, coiled energy, and aromatic finesse. The Advocate has observed that “despite its seeming fragility, Monprivato is one of the most long-lived of all Baroli.” After twenty years, these wines are still just hitting their stride. And with the near-perfect conditions of 2016, this wine is surely going to 

This Monprivato will be a treasure in the cellar, a bottle of timeless beauty. We hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we do.