Barolo Bartolo Mascarello 1970 (1.88L)

92+ Points, John Gilman, View from the Cellar: (Barolo-Bartolo Mascarello) It is funny, given how much I love the wines from Bartolo Mascarello, that I had never previously tasted the 1970 until I was served this wine double blind by a friend here in New York a few years ago. It is a beautifully mature and classic vintage for the Maestro, offering up a pure and complex bouquet of cherries, gamebirds, fresh oregano, gentle road tar, forest floor, a dollop of black licorice and a topnote of dried roses. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and still quite structured for a 1970, with a fine core, tangy acids, still a fair bit of ripe tannin to carry it forward and lovely focus, length and grip on the well-balanced and very classy finish. This wine may well still be climbing in quality and not yet into its apogee! (Drink between 2012-2035)." 11/12/2013, #48.