Nebbiolo 2019 Massolino: a Piedmontese red for those who love traditional wines
The 2019 Nebbiolo Massolino is a Piedmontese red wine made the old-fashioned way, a small masterpiece of compactness, typicality and simplicity.
Don’t think in the slightest of the tannic power of the home Barolo; it doesn’t want to challenge the home battleship, but just be sunny, immediate and greedy.
This does not mean that it is a bland or dull wine; on the contrary, it has good thickness, lots of pulp, a certain finesse, and the earthy charisma typical of Nebbiolo di Serralunga.
Only that the concentration and the ethereal charge are much more approachable.
How it is produced
Grapes are harvested in the hills of Serralunga d’Alba. Clean management of the vineyards without herbicides or pesticides. 10-day maceration and aging in large barrels.
All characteristics that make you understand that Massolino works well, traditionally, and without haste. And in fact, the wine is not pumped up and fruity like jam but terse, agile, and cheeky.
Organoleptic characteristics of Nebbiolo 2019 Massolino
Transparent ruby colour. Still very intense.
Transparent, but rich in extract.
Classic and pungent bouquet with truffles, cinchona, classic hints of the Langhe hills, raspberry, violet and watermelon. Peppery finish. All elegant and punctuated with precision, but without high notes.
On the palate, it is juicy, rounded, but still biting if we speak about tannins. The structure is good and decisive, but not colossal. It flows with agility, never dense, never slow, never too mature—but is rather sharp in propulsion.
The complexity is not sidereal, but that’s okay, it’s not the quintessence of the extract you are looking for, but the characteristics of frankness and charm of Nebbiolo, without all the energy and density of Barolo.
The wine is pleasant, successful, and can be counted among the most serious, dependable labels, distinguished by austerity rather than pleasing frivolity. Even considering the very affordable price of this more than decent bottle.
Price of Nebbiolo 2019 Massolino
14 euros: an acceptable figure for a wine that does not disappoint.
Pairings
The wine is clearly carnivorous and truffle addicted. The lively, but not massive tannins offer an excellent shoulder for aged cheeses such as Stilton, Castelmagno and Piedmontese Toma, but also Valle d’Aosta fondue, black truffle risotto, passatelli with Parmigiano fondue and truffle, bucatini all’amatriciana, roast beef, hamburger.