Bartolo Mascarello Barbera d’Alba 2023 750ml

Also bottled in July of 2025, the 2023 Barbera d’Alba pours a ruby/magenta hue and boasts a sunny, open aromatic profile, revealing notes of Amarena cherries, fresh plum, sweet leather, and earthy, rustic tones. On the palate, it’s ripe yet surprisingly refined, with refreshing acidity, polished tannins, and a medium-bodied frame that keeps it light on its feet. Aged 22 months in wood, its balance reflects a season when vines shut down during peak heat, preserving energy and avoiding excessive skin thickness, and explains the remarkable freshness and levity of this wine. There were 5,000 bottles produced. Drink 2026-2038.

The Bartolo Mascarello 2023 Barbera d'Alba is generous and beautifully vibrant, balancing savory notes of tar and spice against sweet, ripe fruit with effortless precision. Bottled after 22 months in large oak casks, the wine delivers an opulent mouthfeel while maintaining the bright acidity that has long defined Barbera. Maria Teresa Mascarello explained that an intense heat wave between 16 and 24 August, with daytime temperatures reaching 38 to 40 degrees Celsius and even nighttime lows remaining around 25 degrees Celsius, temporarily shut down vine activity and delayed ripening. Even so, the wine retains remarkable freshness, helped by the cool mountain air that descends into the Langhe whenever snow remains on the Alpine peaks. The 2023 vintage also represents the final Barbera made entirely from purchased fruit sourced in nearby Diano d'Alba and Montelupo Albese, as the estate has begun bringing newly planted vineyards into production following the removal of older Barbera parcels affected by the flavescence dorée grapevine disease. The transition is gradual, but Maria Teresa expects estate fruit to account for an increasing share of future vintages. As always, she remains convinced that Barbera is one of Piedmont's great age-worthy wines.

The 2023 Barbera d'Alba is soft, plummy and open-knit, all of which make it a terrific choice for drinking now and over the next handful of years. Soft contours wrap around a core red fruit, rose petal, mint and blood orange. All the elements are so well balanced. In 2023, all of the fruit was purchased following a replanting of the estate Barbera vineyard in San Lorenzo. Beginning in 2024, estate fruit is back in the blend and is set to increase in subsequent years.