2016 Cascina Fontana Barolo

"There is no question 2016 is a brilliant vintage full of magnificent wines."

~Antonio Galloni

2016 is one of the top vintages that Barolo has seen in the last 20 years. The wines are big, structured, and built to last a lifetime in a cellar. If you are looking to expand your Barolo collection, this is a great starting point. Cascina Fontana works with extremely small quantities, assuring a great deal of quality and control over their product. Very few sub $100 bottles of Barolo reach the level of quality consistently delivered by Cascina Fontana.

After founding Cascina Fontana in 1995 with four hectares of vineyards he inherited, Mario Fontana became the sixth generation to work the hills of Barolo south of Alba. He and his family live in the village of Perno but his parcels are in Castiglione Falletto, just beyond Serralunga in Sinio, and La Morra. The wines of Cascina Fontana are a lot like the man, honest and unapologetically classic in style.

Mario sources the fruit for his Barolo from Villero and Valletti in Castiglione Falletto and Gallinotto in La Morra. Fermentation starts in stainless steel and maceration is approximately 20-25 days long followed by 8 months of aging in stainless steel. The wine is then aged in 25 hectoliter Slavonian oak barrels for 2 years. All the barrels are blended back into stainless steel for another year of aging before being bottled. The wine stays in bottle for a year before it is released.