Barbera d'Alba, Bartolo Mascarello 2018

Maria-Teresa Mascarello’s 2018 vintage of Barbera hails from plots of vines in two of the Crus of Barolo (where she also has Nebbiolo planted)- Rué and San Lorenzo. The wine delivers a beautifully deep and precise bouquet of black cherries, a touch of orange peel, gamebird, a touch of peanut, fresh oregano and a topnote of woodsmoke. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied and built for the cellar, with a superb core of fruit, ripe, buried tannins, tangy acids and a long, focused, complex and beautifully balanced young finish. This still needs a few years to blossom properly and will be particularly long-lived by the standards of Barbera. Fine, fine juice. 2023-2040.