Old Unused Cask at Mascarello Winery

This cask was constructed in Slovenia, shipped in pieces to the winery and assembled onsite, as it would have been too big to get through the doors of the winery already assembled. Some say this may be the largest cask in Italy, although it is currently not used for aging.

During the wine tasting, we noticed that Mauro, like most of the winemakers in the Piedmont area we visited, spoke very good French. He treated us to a wonderful tasting of his various wines, including two different offerings of Dolcetto d’Alba, three different offerings of Barbera d’Alba, a Langhe Nebbiolo, and his unique 2001 Monprivato and 2001 Monprivato Ca d’Morissio Riserva. One thing that Mauro did differently in his tasting than the other winemakers we had visited so far was to show us how beautifully his Dolcettos and Barberas evolve for two or three days after being opened. He opened a Dolcetto and Barbera and served them alongside bottles of the same wines that had been opened a few days before. This is an important exercise that he repeats with every vintage so he can see how these wines are evolving. It became evident through this exercise that his pure winemaking style, combined with the location of his vineyards, makes his Dolcettos and Barberas beautiful wines to drink directly from the bottle in one evening or a glass at a time over several days. In this tasting, Mauro shared several single-vineyard Dolcettos which were all lovely in their own unique way.