2020 Freisa Langhe
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Tasting notes
This storied estate enjoys a long history making wine from this much-beloved native Piedmont grape. The Barolo Mascarello 2020 Langhe Freisa (with only 2,000 bottles produced) sources its fruit from Monrobiolo di Bussia. At one point, this winery was pretty much alone making Freisa, but today there are under a dozen producers who choose to include it in their portfolios. Traditionally, the wine was made in a “vivace” style with entrapped C02, but with climate change (and higher alcohol by volume that exceeds the 12.5% threshold for this style), a re-fermentation is no longer possible. However, there are aromas of fermentation that add to the wine’s very lively and punchy bouquet. Blue violets, sweet earth and wild sage give this wine an especially variety-driven personality with light structure and pretty freshness.
Critic scores
Average Score
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
Monica Larner, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
The 2020 Langhe Freisa is powerful wild and gamy. Cured meats, leather, tobacco, incense, dried dark cherry, tobacco and spice all run through this wild, decidedly rustic Freisa. It's not an especially easy wine to taste in this lineup of otherwise elegant reds. That may change in future vintages, though. The 2020 is the first Langhe Freisa that Maria Teresa Mascarello is bottling as a still wine. In the past, the Freisa had been done in the traditional, slightly sparkling style in which the wine undergoes a secondary fermentation in bottle, but the higher natural alcohols of current times make that impossible.
About the producer
Bartolo Mascarello is one of the most respected, traditionalist Barolo producers. The Piedmont estate makes one of the region’s finest expressions of Nebbiolo.