Massolino Barolo 2019

“The 2019 Barolo is a very serious wine. Readers looking for an easygoing, entry-level Barolo will not find that here. Bright and sizzling with tannin, the 2019 is going to need at least a few years to fully come together. Crushed rocks, red/purplish fruit and dried flowers emerge with some coaxing, but this is really a wine for the cellar. It is also probably the most reticent straight Barolo I tasted for this report. Drinking window: 2026-2037. 92 points

Massolino presented a glorious set of new releases, one of the finest ranges I can recall tasting in more than twenty years of visiting the estate. The 2020 Barbarescos build on last year’s wines. Both are exquisite. After a challenging 2018, Massolino bounces back with a set of 2019 Barolos, wines that impress with their purity and profound expressions of site. Last, but certainly not least is the majestic 2017 Barolo Riserva Vigna Rionda, a wine that will soon take its place as one of the very finest Barolos ever made here. “It was a warm year, but the heat was well-distributed, with most of it taking place in June and July rather than in the fall, when the vines are more vulnerable,” Franco Massolino explained. “We had healthy rains after those summer spikes, and from then, the weather settled into a much more typical pattern. Our harvest started in mid-October.” The Massolino wines are notable for a style that blends old-school classicism with contemporary polish.”

Antonio Galloni, Vinous (01/23)