2019 Massolino Langhe Nebbiolo - Piedmont Italy

I know I am not supposed to say this, because it is not PC but this is an effeminate style of Nebbiolo. There are others that are more masculine in style (bigger, more opulent and richer on the front palate).

This is delicate and pretty and all those things that make Nebbiolo so wonderous to drink. Aromas of raspberries, field strawberries, cranberries with a hint of orange oil mix with a dusty earthy note. The palate is so delicate you'd think it was fragile, but this is Nebbiolo. Riding along an earthy core is a vein of red fruit, cranberries and raspberries. Tannins are a little bit chewy. This wine needs food or time or both, it opens up beautifully over a couple of hours so imagine what can be achieved in a couple of years.

"Screwcap. This wine just gets better and better. Early vintages of the Nebbiolo were sourced exclusively from Massolino's younger vines in Serralunga--a declassified Barolo if you like. Today there are two more parcels in play: Monforte's Cascina I Maschi vineyard lies at altitude right on the border of the Barolo area where the soils are rich in chalk (Massolino credits this cool site with the resultant vibrant perfume and ripe acidity); then there's a parcel in Alba on lighter, sandy clay soils, which brings power and fruit concentration.

The blend is roughly one-third from each terroir, and there's little doubt the sum of these three sites has bought even more brightness and early drinking appeal to what was already an outstanding Langhe Nebbiolo. Like all Massolino Nebbiolo, it was aged in large Slavonian oak casks (although the Langhe only spends 15 months in wood, as compared to 24-plus months for the Barolo wines).

From a classical vintage that spotlighted perfume, purity and freshness, this is a strikingly pretty wine: wonderfully vibrant and perfumed with great acidity and energy and aromas and flavours that suggest rose, cranberry, blackberry and all kinds of spice. Super drinking already." - Bibendum

"I seem to have missed the 2017 Massolino wines, but that's what happens when you can't get over to Italy. Anyway, had a glass of this last week after lunch at the outstanding Star of Greece, thus maintaining the great South Australian tradition of drinking full-bodied reds with lunch in summer. Cherry, liquorice, fragrant too, offering juicy red fruit, gentle tannin grip, lovely freshness set in a medium-bodied, but tightly structured frame. There's a little blood orange and aniseed in the mix too. Very nice. Yum."

93 Points - Gary Walsh - The Wine Front