Barolos Made by Cantina Mascarello and the Bartolo Mascarello Winery

• The official name of the winery is "Cantina Mascarello". Wines up until 1980 were labeled "Cantina Mascarello". Since 1982, the wines have been labeled with the name "Bartolo Mascarello".
• Table Key:
  • N = Normal (Non-Reserve).
  • R = Reserve.
  • X = None Made.
  • Canubbi (or Cannubi) = This refers to the most prestigious vineyard in which Cantina Mascarello owns vines. Some bottles of Barolo were labeled with this vineyard name as recently as the late 1960s. To my knowledge, the wine in these bottles is the same as in those without this label. The name was used because of the prestige of the vineyard, but Cantina Mascarello has always believed that the best Barolos are made by blending grapes from multiple vineyards.
  • In fact, here is a photo of a 1960 Barbaresco with the name Canubbi at the bottom, even though Canubbi is a Barolo vineyard and not a Barbaresco vineyard. This wine could not contain any grapes from the Canubbi vineyard.
  • I have high confidence in the entries in bold font and those with photos, less for the non-bold.
• Clickable entries are linked to a photo of one or more labels for that wine.
  
  • If you have a photo of wine that I do not, or you have a better photo than the one here, and you would like to contribute your photo, please email it to me (kenvastola "at" gmail).
• Please see the notes at the bottom of the page which include more on the history of the winery and its wines, as well as many labels not listed in the table.
• Table Key: N = Non-Reserve, R = Reserve, X = None Made.

Table Key: N = Non-Reserve, R = Reserve, X = None Made

Notes, History, and Other Labels

• The winery was founded as "Cantina Mascarello" on January 1, 1920, by Bartolo's father, Giulio Mascarello, according to A Wine Atlas of the Langhe. He was assisted by his father, Bartolomeo, who was the cellarman at the Cantina Sociale in Barolo. Giulio was born in Barolo in 1895 and died in 1981. Just after World War II, he served as mayor of the town of Barolo. He was a pioneer as a small grower/producer of high quality Barolo.
• Bartolo Mascarello was born in 1926 and died on March 12, 2005. He joined his father in winery in 1945 and became a legend in his own right. Beginning in the mid-1990s, ill-health kept him out of the vineyards. This is when he began hand-drawing labels. He was an icon of traditional Barolo making.
• Today, the winery is run by Bartolo's daughter Maria Teresa (born 1967), with help from her mother Francesca. Maria Teresa Mascarello had joined her father in the winery in 1993 and took over the winemaking as his mobility lessened.
• Facts about vineyards:
  • The first vineyard owned by Cantina Mascarello was a 1.9 acre (0.8 hectare) plot in the Monrobiolo vineyard, also known as Bussia di Barolo since it is adjacent to Bussia (in particular vigna Colonnello), but it is in the commune of Barolo. It is now known as the MGA Monrobiolo di Bussia. For quite some time, Mascarello's plot here has been planted entirely to Dolcetto.
  • In the 1930s, Giulio purchased more land; first in the Cannubi MGA (2.8 acres = 1.1 hectares) right in the center of the Cannubi vineyard, then in the San Lorenzo MGA (0.9 acres = 0.4 hectares) and in the Rué MGA (1.9 acres = 0.8 hectares), all in the commune of Barolo. This San Lorenzo vineyard is across the road from the Cannubi San Lorenzo vineyard. It only has a small amount of Nebbiolo planted (which was replanted in 2016). Mostly it is planted with Barbera, as well as a neighboring plot of San Lorenzo Barbera leased from a cousin.
  • At some point, Bartolo bought a 3 acre (1.2 hectare) plot in the Rocche dell'Annunziata MGA in the commune of La Morra. On the label, this was referred to as "Rocche di La Morra" or just "Rocche" up until 2009. Starting in 2010, the names of multiple vineyards are not allowed on the label. This plot had been owned by the Mascarello family for a very long time.
    As I understand it, Bartolo's grandfather Bartolomeo was born and raised in the hamlet of Torriglione, which borders Rocche dell'Annunziata, as well as the vineyard named Torriglione. This plot was already already owned by his family when he was born. On Bartolomeo's death, it passed to another relative of Bartolo. That relative often sold the grapes to Bartolo and eventually sold the vineyard to Bartolo. I believe this family member was Michele Mascarello or his children, but I cannot confirm this.
    Sheldon Wasserman and other sources sometimes refer to this plot as "Torriglione". When Bartolomeo got married, he moved from Torriglione to Barolo, so he may have referred to this plot as "Torriglione" but he was likely referring to the hamlet name and not the vineyard name.
  • In the 1960s, Bartolo expanded his plot in Cannubi up the hill by trading a Dolcetto plot for it to a grower who wanted to consolidate his Dolcetto plots, according to Vinous.
  • In 2015, all of the 0.3 hectares of Nebbiolo vines in their San Lorenzo plot were ripped out and replanted in 2016. So starting with the 2015 Barolo, their Barolo does not contain any San Lorenzo. Instead, a friend who owns a plot adjacent to theirs in Monrobiolo di Bussia let them lease 0.4 hectares of Nebbiolo there. As their replanted San Lorenzo vines began producing fruit, they were able to keep this leased parcel so production is up a bit with more grapes from Monrobiolo di Bussia. Also, their Langhe Nebbiolo, which was made from the young vines in their estate vineyards is now made from purchased fruit.
  • For photo of these vineyards, see my report on my visit to Cantina Bartolo Mascarello in 2016.
• Other labels:
  • The winery has also produced a Barolo Chinato with art labels at various times, mostly for home use.
• Facts about bottlings:
  • In some vintages (up to and including 1980), both a non-riserva Barolo and a Barolo Riserva were made. In these cases, these wines may have been bottled at different times, but from the same lots of wine. So the only difference between a "Barolo" and a "Barolo Riserva" is that the Riserva spent more time in cask.
  • Cavalieri bottlings: According to the website of the Ordine dei Cavalieri del Tartufo e dei Vini d'Alba, the following Bartolo Mascarello Barolos have been bottled under their label (as well as his own):
    • 1971 Cantina Giulio Mascarello Barolo.
    • 1983 Bartolo Mascarello Barolo
  • Magnums:
    • Albeisa vs Bordeaux-style magnums: From 1989 to 2010, the winery used the tall shoulder Bordeaux-style magnum bottle. Bartolo and Maria Teresa felt that the glass on Albeisa magnum bottles was too light in color to protect the wine inside. 2011 was the first year that they bottled magnums in Albeisa bottles again since 1988, since new darker glass was approved.
    • Prior to 1978, magnums were either 1.88 liters or 1.9 liters. I assume this is because one half of a U.S. gallon is 1.892 liters.
    • Some background on Albeisa bottles. The official site of the Consorzio ALBEISA ® Unione Produttori Vini Albesi (ALBEISA Consortium: Union of Albesi Wine Producers).
• More information:
  • Levi Dalton has a wonderfully detailed blog post about his visit to the winery in 2012.
  • Here is my write-up of my visit to the winery in 2016.

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