In my penultimate report on the successful 2009 Barolo and Barbaresco harvest I interview Giuseppe and his mother Maria Teresa Mascarello in their Santo Stefano di Perno vineyard, Monforte.

It speaks volumes that this iron-rich, sandy calcareous site should picked last among their formidable stable of Barolo vineyards; later even than Monprivato and Ca d’Morissio. But as Maria Teresa explains in this clip, they wanted to achieve ultimate ripeness, so delaying the harvest by a week. And what a result! The bunches showing great health, ripeness & a most encouraging pink translucence; not a rotten apple among them (?)

But then so you might hope from a 60/80 year-old vineyard. Evviva!  As they say.