2019 Mauro Marengo Barolo ‘Ravera’
It’s rare that you come across an up-and-coming producer from a region as historic and notable as Piedmonte. Nevertheless, it does happen, and when it does it FIRES US UP. Marengo’s Barolo is described as aromatic, elegant, and understated. To top it off, 2019 was a 5/5 stellar vintage for Barolo – It’s being compared to 2016.
Organic farming practices, hand-harvested and less than 600 cases produced!
$85.00
Out of stock
Born in Alba in 1961, Mauro Marengo left middle school to help his father Francesco take care of their many different crops and livestock up until the 1980s. Incentivized by the increasing global success of their wine region, they slowly moved more of their effort to viticulture, and in 2015 they made their first commercial wines. Daniele describes his father as having the peasant pragmatism of the Langa and a strong attachment to the land.
What is most unique about the Marengos and the typical Piemontese familial agricultural system is how early they began to pass the torch on to their children. They started to first give control over the business to their daughters and convinced by Daniele’s obvious talent and passion for the vineyard and cellar work, some years later they gave him, at twenty-two-years-old, their full support of his ideas and the directional control in the vineyards and cellar. However, Daniele was involved from the start with the microquantity of wines bottled under the family label in 2015 when he had just entered his teenage years.Though it’s not fair to speculate on Daniele’s potential while he’s only nearing the quarter mark of his life, we do see the genius early on. It’s even rarer in a region as important as Barolo for someone so young to be given full control and to generate such high-level results so quickly. In our portfolio of growers, there are few so impressive in their early twenties from one of a country’s most celebrated regions. Is Daniele a prodigy? Not sure, but it will be a privilege to watch his progression from the front row.
NEBBIOLO
Italy’s best kept treasure. Nebbiolo produces some of the greatest wines in the world, but is hardly planted outside of its home country. Famous to Italy’s Piedmont region, look for these twin stars that are 100% Nebbiolo: Barolo and Barbaresco. This renowned grape produces glorious red wine containing complex flavors with high acid and tannin, allowing these babies (in the right hands) to age for years to come. Grab yourself a bottle, or three, and see for yourself what these wines can do!
BAROLO, PIEDMONT, ITALY
You’ll often hear Barolo associated with some of Italy’s greatest wines. This is because the wine here is grown at altitudes with south-facing slopes (towards the sunlight) allowing the grapes to ripen slowly developing perfumed aromas, sour cherries, herbs, and floral characteristics. Barolo’s are infamous for being the biggest and boldest of the black variety Nebbiolo. In the best years, Barolo will develop high acidity and high tannin with a full body and the potential to continue to develop its characteristics within the bottle. Many Barolo’s will actually benefit in complexity and structure from further bottle aging. These wines can be sourced from different villages or purely from one village, which would then be stated on the label. The best wines here will come from a single-named vineyard or “cru.” In Barolo DOCG, the primary designated area, the wine must be made entirely from the Nebbiolo grape, spend 18 months in oak, and aged for three years before release.
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