Travels in Wine

Bewitched by Barolo

Buyer Victoria Mason tells us how she first fell in love with this region and its wines and how the 2021 vintage will be the starting point for a cellar of fine wine.

Barolo

I fell in love with Barolo – the place – not during its famously magical season of autumnal mists, but in the peak of summer, hiking my way around the region on my holidays. Self-guiding my friend and I through the hills of the Langhe, I passed by, or stayed in, many of the villages and hamlets whose names were revered in my wine books back home. It was the end of August 2017 – a very hot summer for the vines – and the meditative process of moving through this unbelievably beautiful part of the world, as harvest approached, set the scene for a deep fascination with the nebbiolo grape that grows here.  

At the time I was little more than a year into my wine career, thirstily soaking up everything (I still am!), and I had become enthralled with the spirit, energy, and individuality of Italian wine. Having not grown up in a home with a wine cellar full of classics (or indeed any wine cellar), and having rarely holidayed in France, I joined the wine industry without a particularly strong connection to the traditional regions of Bordeaux and Burgundy. Everyone I met in wine seemed to know France intimately, while Italy was an enigma to them. Perhaps because of this (I’ve always loved an enigma, and I like to be contrary), Italy became the subject of my extracurricular studies and drinking, before I began buying from the country professionally in 2019. The Italian region that hit me hardest was Piemonte and the grape that I fell for – hook, line, and sinker – was nebbiolo (both from Barolo and Barbaresco, admittedly). 

the best of Barolo seems to me to be transcendent

Why, or maybe how, did Barolo grab me? It is hard to put into words, because it is about a feeling rather than a taste, but the best of Barolo seems to me to be transcendent – with its ethereal perfume, intense structure, and elusive character. It seems to occupy another, higher realm, that – for me – only the very finest Burgundy or northern Rhône reds can soar to. At the heart of Barolo is something of a contradiction; it is both sweet (think roses) and savoury (think tar); it is both powerful and elegant; it is both huge and delicate; it is both of the earth and of the air. ‘Tar and roses’ have perhaps become helpful shorthand for these inherent contradictions, but cannot convey the truly beguiling nature of Barolo.

As well as this intrigue, I also love that Barolo is a wine to take time over, a wine to let unfold over hours (and years), a wine that forces you to be patient (I am not naturally a patient person). All of this might sound like it’s an ‘intellectual’ wine but, while Barolo undoubtedly makes me think, it firstly makes me feel. 

Silvano Bolmida
Harvest at Silvano Bolmida 2024

My latest visit to Barolo, in October 2024, while covering Sarah Knowles MW’s maternity leave, was a revelation. It was my first opportunity to taste the detail of the communes and the crus in the region with the producers themselves. This has taken my understanding, and my love, to the next level. Not only was it a privilege to visit The Society’s longstanding producers – almost all family businesses run by wonderful, warm, generous people – but it was a stroke of luck that the vintage I was tasting (to offer to members en primeur) was the phenomenal 2021. The distinctiveness of site shines through the 2021s with such absolute clarity that I am more convinced than ever of the value of getting to know the minutiae of the different vineyards of Barolo, in the same level of detail that Burgundian terroir is mapped and appreciated. 

Now that I’ve finished my Master of Wine studies (and my spare cash is no longer going towards blind tasting practice and research trips), I am excited about starting to build my very own cellar of Barolo with the 2021 vintage (which I’ll keep in my Reserves at The Society, of course), since the true beauty of Barolo is opening mature bottles… 

>> Shop Barolo wines

>> Read Sarah Knowles MW’s simple guide to about Barolo 

>> Travels in Barolo: what to eat! 

>> Amarone, Barolo, Chianti: the ABC guide to Italy’s premium reds 

Victoria Mason MW

Wine Buyer

Victoria Mason MW

Victoria joined The Society in May 2024 to cover Sarah Knowles MW’s maternity leave, buying Italy, Champagne, and the USA. Victoria passed her Master of Wine qualification in 2024, winning the Quinta do Noval prize for the best research paper, on regenerative viticulture in Stellenbosch. She also won The Vintners’ Company award for the top performance in the business of wine paper and the Robert Mondavi award for the best performance in the theory papers.

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