2016 Massolino Barolo

Massolino is a cornerstone of Serralunga d’Alba. Founded in 1896 and one of the oldest continuously operating producers in Piedmont, the estate is led by Franco and Roberto Massolino, who have modernized the winery carefully while staying fiercely loyal to tradition. The style is the epitome of Serralunga — power, structure and depth, with the iron-rich earthiness of the commune — made with a touch that ensures elegance rather than rusticity. The wines are fermented in cement and aged only in large Slavonian oak.

The Barolo is a traditional blend of several outstanding Serralunga sites, including Briccolina, Collaretto and Broglio, and is the perfect introduction to the house. Margheria, with a streak of sand in its soils, offers fragrance and silky finesse on a Serralunga backbone. Parussi is the outlier, the estate’s only cru outside Serralunga, in Castiglione Falletto, where sand and limestone produce a racy, precise and highly aromatic Barolo.

At the summit is Vigna Rionda, which would sit at the very top of any formal Barolo classification. Massolino is one of the historic owners of this sheltered, perfectly exposed slope of calcareous marl, and its Riserva is legendary for its monumental structure, dark fruit and aromas of crushed roses, tar and iron — a wine of tension and muscle that evolves for decades.