94pts Wine Advocate
Drinking Window 2026 - 2042
The M. Marengo 2021 Barolo presents a beautiful bouquet that is shaped by optimally ripe fruit and careful oak aging. The primary and secondary aromas complement each other beautifully, with no one side overpowering the other. In line with the character of the vintage, the quality of fruit is sharp and clear. There is cassis, dark currant, crushed stone and something sweet like candied orange peel. It sits firmly on the palate with tight tannins.

Our Tasting Note:
Needs air, elegant and gentle at first, on day 3 via Coravin it brought out the core of this wine's personality that was much more structure, complexity, and intensity, even more so on day 5!  Very classic, the nose is very pretty with aromas of cherry, currants, blood orange, tar, and rose.  The palate is medium+ bodied with grippy medium-grained tannins that give this a nice backbone - but you HAVE to give it air to get here! Med+ on the palate and on the finish on days 3 and 5.  At first this was softer and rounded on the palate and finish, but over the days (3 and 5) this put on weight and structure, deepening in complexity.

A traditional Barolo Classico made up of four separate Barolo crus (or MGAs), grown, hand harvested, and vinified separately, and then assembled together at bottling. For those in the know, the four MGAs the fruit comes from are Serradenari (Giulia Negri anyone?), Boiolo (common in Barolo classico from west Barolo producers), Fossati (huge G.D. Vajra Barolo Albe contributor!), and Roncaglie (yes, there is also a Barolo vineyard also by this name besides the more famous Barbaresco vineyard). Reviewing prior tasting notes for the wine, it appears to typically lean bright, with pressed roses and citrus common aromas.
Winemaking: 10-15 day spontaneous fermentation at 18-20 °C with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel, and then aged 24 months in barriques (10% new) and additional 6 months aging in bottle before release.