Day 3, November 6, 2012

Giuseppe Mascarello

Today was the day for the ultra traditional producers - Giuseppe Rinaldi and Giuseppe Mascarello.  We started at Rinaldi near the town of Barolo.  The location was a bit tough to find but eventually we got there.  We were warmly greeted by the young and attractive Marta Rinaldi and given a quick tour of the very old cellar.  Soon we moved on to tasting the wines which all showed very well.

Lunch was in the town of Barolo.  Barolo is a fun little town to walk around in.  It is a bit more touristy feeling than the other small towns in the Langhe.  We picked a lunch spot that was near the center of town without a recommendation or reviewing feedback from other travelers - Locanda della Posta.  This was the most uninteresting lunch of the entire trip.  The food wasn't bad, it was just uninteresting.  The wine service was bad though.  The inside of the restaurant was on the warm side and so were the wines that were left sitting out (some of them under bright lights).  I'm sure there were better choices in the town, we just picked a bad spot.

After lunch we ventured to the town of Dogliani to walk around a bit and check out the public market.  It was pretty small and most of what was on sale was clothing.  Dogliani is known for its Dolcetto - there was plenty of it for sale there as you would expect.

Our afternoon appointment with the legendary producer Giuseppe Mascarello.  I was warned that this location would be very difficult to find and indeed it was.  I asked for directions from several locals in the small town where the Cantina is located and eventually they got us on the right track.  This was a really fun visit.  In a room full of fruit flies we tasted through the complete set of current release wines.  They were all excellent including the 2008 Monprivato.  Our visit was led by Mauro Mascarello and his friendly wife.  Mauro isn't a fluent English speaker and we don't know much Italian but we managed to communicate just fine.  This visit was a definite highlight for me.

We purchased a few bottles of Freisa to bring back to the hotel to enjoy.  The 2006 Freisa was superb - funky and earthy.

Dinner was in La Morra within walking distance of our hotel at Pizzeria Per Bacco, which was excellent.