Mascarello/Bartolo Barolo 2001

Three Glasses, Gambero Rosso: "The 20,000 bottles of the 2001 Barolo are still closed and slow to unveil their spice-themed aromas before the cushiony, sumptuous palate entrances with its complexity. This is a selection that embodies the finest Barolo traditions and deserved its Three Glasses. (2006)"

94+ points John Gilman (View From the Cellar): "I had heard undercurrents that the quality of the Mascarello wines had slipped just a bit in the last few years of Bartolo’s career, once he had been confined to a wheelchair and was not out working in the vineyards each and every day. However, based on the stunning quality of the younger vintages in this vertical tasting, I have to say that this was emphatically not the case. The 2001 is a classic and timeless beauty in the making, which offers up a powerful and pure bouquet of black cherries, licorice, road tar, fresh herbs and a faint whiff of cedary spice (no doubt from some of those new botti that were added to the cellar around this time). On the palate the wine is full-bodied, pure and classically structured, with beautiful focus, a rock solid core of fruit, ripe, but firm tannins, and great tangy acids giving the wine a lightness of step on the very long, soil-driven finish. This is a great young Bartolo in the making, and clearly will be one of the great vinous legacies of his illustrious career. 2020-2060. (Sep/Oct 2007)"

93+ points Stephen Tanzer (International Wine Cellar): "Medium amber-tinged red. Highly nuanced nose combines plum, marzipan, leather, flowers, spun sugar and nutty oak. Concentrated, juicy and bright, with lovely sweetness buffered by firm but well-integrated acidity. Gripping and tightly wound; in fact, this quickly went into a shell in the glass. But this perfectly combines the sweetness of the 2000 and the structure of the 1999. Finishes with big, chewy, ripe tannins and notes of leather and tobacco. (Nov 2004)"