The 2018 Barolo Perno Vigna Santo Stefano comes from a site between Monforte d'Alba and Serralunga d'Alba that maintains slightly cooler temperatures overall. Although Monprivato is the vineyard site most closely associated with the Mascarello family, they also have extensive experience farming here. In fact, the Mascarello family was among the first to draw importance to Perno. This wine shows a rich texture and darker aromas that tend to veer toward chestnut, hazelnut, truffle and dark fruit.

Boasting a fuller more opulent fruit delivery, the Giuseppe Mascarello 2017 Barolo Perno Vigna Santo Stefano shows soft layers of dark berry and sweet cassis. Nebbiolo maintains its freshness in this case and its structural heft that gives the mouthfeel such importance and persistence. The 2017 vintage delivers more power and fruit weight overall. The finished wine is slightly more accessible and open-knit as a result.

Fruit from Perno in Monforte d'Alba brings on the power, and you can't escape it in the 2016 Barolo Perno Vigna Santo Stefano. The Mascarello family planted two more hectares of vines in Santo Stefano, and they also replanted a segment that they acquired in 2010 that had been damaged by erosion. They built an incredible terrace that adds another six meters of vineyard and that hangs over an impossibly tall retaining wall. This is a profound and beautiful expression that offers a lot of brawn and muscle, with a 15% alcohol content. The fruit is dark and savory, focused on plum and black cherry. The aromas don't hold back, and the wine immediately reveals its winning cards. This Barolo is darker in character with lingering tones of resin, tar and smoke. I suggest holding this bottle to the 10-year mark at a minimum.

Drawing its fruit from an often-overlooked corner of Monforte d'Alba (on the next hill over, facing Castiglione Falletto), the Giuseppe Mascarello 2015 Barolo Perno Vigna Santo Stefano opens to a sweet note of cherry and bright fruit that is so perfectly in line with the richness and succulence of this warm and sunny vintage. The Nebbiolo grape has captured every last sunbeam here, transmitting red fruit, cured tobacco, grilled herb and scorched earth in return. This vintage is slightly more accessible and open-knit in character.

The Giuseppe Mascarello 2011 Barolo Perno Vigna Santo Stefano is an opulent and fruit-forward Nebbiolo that shows the ripe side of Monteforte d'Alba. The wine exhibits richness and softness and other succulent characteristics that are correctly associated with the hot 2011 vintage. But this estate always shows a deft hand, most especially when it comes to bringing out the elegance and grace of Nebbiolo. You get those qualities here in the context of a warm vintage.