Cantina Bartolo Mascarello Barolo Chinato

Bartolo Mascarello's father Giulio made and sold Barolo Chinato up until 1980 just before he died in 1981. As described on our main Barolo Chinato page, in 1980, when Barolo was upgraded from DOC status to DOCG status, the new regulations prohibited the making of Barolo Chinato in any winery where Barolo was made. So Bartolo stopped making Chinato for sale. Instead, he would makeabout 50 half-liter bottles annually for family gifts. These bottles were made in the kitchen of the family house. Bartolo's daughter Maria-Teresa continued this tradition. Examples of such bottles with labels made from prints of Bartolo's drawings are pictured below.

As described on our main Barolo Chinato page, in 2016, the law changed. It is now possible for a Barolo winery to give a quantity of Barolo to another company that has a facility and the permits for making Chinato. This new legal-for-sale Barolo Chinato made by Maria-Teresa Mascarello is a combination of vintages of Barolo. Every year the winery holds back one or two demijohns of that year's Barolo (anywhere between 30 and 55 litres). After 3-5 years, there is enough to make a batch of Chinato. The various demijohns are sent to Mauro Vergano who makes the chinato. Their current plan is to make between 300 and 500 half-litre bottles every few years. The first legal-for-sale production was bottled in 2017. You can see this from the lot number on the back label of the bottle (below) "334/17" where the last two digits are the year of bottling.

This newest label looks a lot like the oldest labels that pre-date the art labels (see the photos at the bottom of this page):
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Barolo Chinato made by Bartolo's daughter Maria Teresa Mascarello with art labels by Bartolo:
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Barolo Chinato made by Bartolo Mascarello with art labels by Bartolo:
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An old Barolo Chinato labeled Cantina Mascarello, made by Bartolo's father Giulio. Note the screwcap:
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All original content © Ken Vastola