Screwcap. Three sources here. First, Massolino’s younger vines in Serralunga—in other words, declassified Barolo fruit. Then, Monforte’s Cascina I Maschi (Massolino credits this cool, chalky site with giving the wine lifted perfume and freshness). And finally, a parcel in Alba on lighter, sandy-clay soils, bringing fruit generosity. The blend is roughly one-third from each of these areas, and there’s little doubt the sum of these parts brings even more finesse and early-drinking appeal to what has always been an outstanding Langhe Nebbiolo.

2022 is another gorgeous release from this label. It is a pure-fruited, pretty wine (suggesting strawberry, cherry, violet and anise) with ripe, chalky tannins and a terrific, perfumed finish spiked with graphite-like minerality. Following very gentle extraction, it aged in large Slavonian oak casks for 15 months, as opposed to 24-plus months for the Barolo wine. To call this a bargain is to understate the case!

Screwcap. Traditionally cropped from an ideally positioned 3.2 hectares within the Serralunga postcode, recent vintages also include fruit from Massolino’s Cascina I Maschi vineyard in Monforte d’Alba. The Dolcetto is raised entirely in stainless steel tanks. First produced all the way back in 1896, Massolino only uses its finest Dolcetto for this bottling; the remainder is sold in bulk. It’s another superb example of this variety: succulent, perfumed and packed with crunchy black cherry fruit and floral notes with a lovely, vibrant, mouthwatering close. Pass the salumi, please.

Screwcap. Massolino planted three clones of Riesling in 2014 in a cool and windswept parcel in Monforte d’Alba. This rocky, limestone-rich plot sits at the hill’s apex at 450-500 metres, just outside the Barolo appellation boundary. After a few years of experimenting with amphora, steel and various types and sizes of oak, the wine today ferments exclusively in a 5,000-litre cement tank, where it rests on lees for nine months.

The use of concrete is hardly commonplace when vinifying Riesling, yet Massolino feels the wine’s brightness and energy merit this approach. It’s hard to disagree, given the coiled energy and purity. It’s a lovely vintage for this wine, with bell-clear apple blossom and white flower flavours allied to the intensity of palate-coating fruitiness and a crunchy lemon and lemongrass close.

Nomacorc Reserva. The 2021 Barbaresco is a blend of three parcels in Neive: Albesani, Serraboella and Starderi. Of these vineyards, Albesani is the best known and is covered in more detail below. Serraboella, which accounts for the lion’s share of the blend, is one of the most highly regarded sites in the eastern sector of Neive. Massolino’s vines lie on the preferred southwest-facing hill, on light soils overlooking the village. Finally, Starderi lies on the western side of Neive. It’s a sunnier terroir that brings power and flesh to the blend. The winemaking hardly differs from the Barolo wines. Natural fermentation takes place in large oak fermenters. The 2021 saw about 12-15 days on skins before aging in large, 5,000-litre Slavonian oak barrels for 18 months. The 2021 is a superb release-—so pretty, perfumed and fine. The palate is loaded with juicy fruit and fine, powdery tannins. Good length, great finesse!

“Bright cinnamon and earthy strawberry aromas with violets and dried cherries. Firm, with lifted acidity, dusty yet ripe tannins, a chewy mid-palate and ripe fruit on the finish. Approachable Barbaresco but will age nicely, too. Drink or hold.” 92 points, James Suckling, jamesuckling.com

“The 2021 Barbaresco is a blend from parcels in Albesani, Serraboella and Starderi. Gracious and nuanced, the 2021 offers up hints of crushed flowers, orange peel, mint, sweet red berry fruit and spice. Readers will find a super-classic Barbaresco. Lifted aromatics, mid-weight structure and persistent yet fine tannins give the wine its shape. This is beautifully done.” 93 points, Antonio Galloni, Vinous

Natural cork. On the western hills above Neive, Albesani is one of Barbaresco’s great vineyards. In his Barbaresco MGA, Alessandro Masnaghetti explains that “the combination of soil, stature and exposure creates one of the greatest vineyards of the Langhe”. So perhaps it won’t be a surprise that, of its three Barbaresco parcels, Massolino has chosen to bottle its first single-vineyard wine from this site. As Franco Massolino explains: “From the very first moment this wine began to ferment, we knew we were dealing with a superb expression of Nebbiolo.”

Of its two hectares in Albesani, Massolino used only 0.6 hectares for this bottling—the parcel at the top of the vineyard (at 260 metres) with the poorest blue marl soils and the oldest vines (50 years of age). The soils are classic limestone and chalky clay, and it is exposed to the southwest. Aged in large-format Austrian oak for 18 months, it’s a super wine, incredibly aromatic and floral on both the nose and palate, with lovely texture and pure flavours of jasmine, mixed red fruits and all kinds of spice. Great length, too. A gorgeous Barbaresco from a stellar vintage.

Nomacorc Reserva. First produced in 1911, the fruit for Massolino’s classic cuvée is selected from seven sites across roughly seven hectares of prime-sited Serralunga vineyards. The most important of these sites—Briccolina, Collareto, Broglio and Le Turne—are dotted around the town itself (Le Turne borders Margheria, while Collareto lies next to Vigna Rionda)—so we are talking quality real estate. The 2020 also includes a little declassified fruit from Massolino’s Parussi Cru. Vine age varies from 10 to 55 years.

2020 was the third year that Massolino’s Barolo wines fermented in large wooden casks (the wines used to ferment in concrete). While the Cru wines below now ferment exclusively in oak—which Giovanni Angeli credits with imparting even more finesse—half of this Barolo still fermented in concrete. This cuvée spent around 20 days on skins, and the final blend matured for 30 months in large Slavonian oak casks. It is an exceptional release for a wine that is, as always, wonderful value and an archetypical Serralunga Barolo. Already drinking beautifully, this is lithe, refined village Barolo at its best, with suave flavours of strawberry compote, spiced cherry, blood orange and liquorice underscored by fresh acidity and superfine, long tannins. Pretty as a peach!

Natural cork. Margheria is one of Serralunga’s most important and illustrious sites. The Massolino family bought their first parcel here in 1964, and the remainder came online during the ’70s. The current holding is 1.5 hectares. Sitting 280 metres above sea level, Margheria is very chalky with a high percentage of sand (which brings elegance), while the high calcium carbonate content brings vibrant mineral energy to Serralunga’s natural depth.

As with all three 2020 Crus, Margheria fermented in large oak fermenters and spent around three weeks on skins. It then aged in botti for 30 months before bottling and remained in bottle for a further year before release. This is a benchmark release for this wine—a superb, open, fine-boned Margheria. As always, it’s pretty and perfumed, yet has plenty of ripe fruit and fine structure.

Natural cork. Planted in 1957, Parafada was the Massolino family’s first prime parcel in Serralunga. It is still home to their oldest vines. Legend has it that Giovanni Massolino planted these vines when he was just 17 years old! Today, these 66-year-old vines produce smaller berries with more concentrated fruit. Located between Gabutti and Lazzarito, Massolino’s 1.2-hectare parcel rises steeply from 300 to 340 metres above sea level and faces due south, catching the full face of the sun. The aspect, old vines and dense clay/marl/lime-infused soils (Formazione di Lequio, to be precise) typically result in the densest, most powerful wine of Massolino’s three Serralunga Crus. As with all 2020 Crus, this fermented and aged in large oak fermenters and spent around three weeks on skins. This is a very fine, seductive release with waves of ripe, fleshy blackcurrant, liquorice, and even leather-scented fruit. It has excellent freshness, tightly knitted tannins and driven length.

Natural cork. This is the only Barolo vineyard Massolino owns beyond Serralunga—‘the egg outside the nest’ as an old Piemonte saying goes. On the crest of the ridge, Parussi sits right next to the Serralunga border on the Castiglione Falletto side. The blue, iron-rich Sant'Agata marls here are a little lighter and more oxygenated, with more silt and less clay than in Serralunga. This makes for more vigour in the vines and a completely different style of wine. The Massolino family were attracted to the excellent southeast-to-southwest exposure, combined with the age of the vines (45 years) and the vineyard’s situation at 290 metres above sea level. 

As always, this is quite different from the Serralunga wines, with more pungent depth and firmer tannins. It is an outstanding example of Castiglione Falletto, showing the depth of the place and the class of Massolino. Again, it fermented and aged in large oak, with around three weeks on skins, and is one of the best examples of this wine to date.

In a recent survey for Michele Longo and Ian D’Agata’s upcoming book, no Barolo cru garnered more votes from respondents asked to name Barolo’s top five Crus in terms of quality and prestige. Vigna Rionda is historically Serralunga’s most revered vineyard and the source of some of the greatest, finest, longest-lived Barolo. The Massolino family took ownership of their first parcel in 1956, and new parcels directly adjoining the existing vines were purchased in 1967, 1985, and 1987. This took Massolino’s holding to the 3.5 hectares of vines (two planted to Nebbiolo).

On some of the oldest soils of Barolo, there is very little topsoil here, with a high concentration of limestone, oxidised iron and other mineral elements. Vigna Rionda’s soil can be traced back to the Lequio Formation, the oldest soil of the Barolo area, originating in the Serravallian period between 13 and 11 million years ago. The limestone presence differentiates this vineyard from many other Barolo vineyards; the soils limit vigour and ensure consistent phenolic ripeness. In fact, within the Barolo area, Vigna Rionda, at roughly 14%, boasts one of the highest limestone contents in the entire Barolo zone.

The vines are at 250 to 360 metres’ altitude and protected from northerly winds and frost by the south/southwest aspect. This vineyard generates wines with an optimum balance of perfume, finesse, concentration and structure rarely found in Barolo. Excellent acidity and tannins are a feature of Vigna Rionda wines, so they require longer aging in botti and bottle. This is why Massolino’s Vigna Rionda is always released with a minimum of six years of age. Always aged in large cask, 2017 was the second vintage where Massolino’s Vigna Rionda also fermented in large wood. It spent 20 days on skins and then aged for 30 months in a 7,000-litre Stockinger botte.

Barolo lovers need no reminding: 2016 was an epic vintage, producing a stream of breathtaking wines. First bottled as a single Cru in 1982, 2016 marked the 35th vintage of Massolino’s benchmark Barolo, Vigna Rionda, and even those who know this wine intimately will surely not have tasted a greater expression. This year’s sheer quality led Massolino to introduce a new, all-black label, which henceforth will only be used for the greatest years of Vigna Rionda. The 2016 fermented with indigenous yeasts in oak tini—large, conical oak vats—with the blending and pre-bottling in stainless-steel tanks and cement vats. It matured for 36 months in Stockinger botti.

This is clearly a very special Vigna Rionda. It’s a rich, layered wine of enormous depth and power yet also great finesse. It’s unique, perhaps a little like 2010 or 2004 but with more structural power. The notes below tell you all you need to know about the quality on offer.