#23 PRIMA’s ’24 for 24’ Best Wines Of The Year

Mario Fontana is a very cool guy. His tiny cellar is a one-man show at the highest part of the Perno road in Monforte d’Alba, right next to Reppublica di Perno, one of our favorite restaurants in the area. The laconic but genial Mario calls himself a ‘traditional iconoclast’ who has, over the years, passed on several lucrative opportunities to ply his winemaking trade with bigger, fancier cantinas in order to concentrate solely on making his own wines, his own way, at tiny Cascina Fontana. Mario is totally committed to making his three-total-cask production of Barolo wholly within the confines of the region’s most time-honored traditions. He is, after all, related by marriage to the Mascarello family, and just like his late in-law uncle Bartolo and his daughter Maria-Teresa, he would rather do things the way they’ve always been done in Barolo than follow any fad or fashion. And his wines definitely show that sense of rugged individualism. Mario farms three different vineyards- two in nearby Castiglione Falletto (Villero and Mariondino-Valetta) that have long been in the Fontana family, and a third, Giachini in La Morra, came into the family through Mario’s wife, Luisa. In addition, Mario farms smaller parcels dedicated solely to the production of a truly delicious, really distinctive Langhe Nebbiolo made in the ‘Baby Barolo’ style. One is the history Castello vineyard located just up the hill from Castello di Sinio that the Fontanas have farmed for nearly a hundred years, as well as three spots in Castiglione Falletto: Lirano, Mombello and Il Pozzo. The wine is vinified for a much shorter period (two weeks) than those destined to become his much-coveted Barolos. This results in a wine that is fresher than a young Barolo but no less harmonious and elegant, with a beautiful balance of tannin, fruit and acidity. There is a wonderful sweet core of dark, dusky Nebbiolo cherries, plums and mulberry and all the amazing wild nettle, cinnamon spice aromatics one expects from the grape in a medium-bodied red that drinks beautifully already. I truly bonded with this wine over a traditional lunch with Mario in Perno where it married beautifully with our pasta and, when we compared it with a 1975 Nebbiolo Mario’s father made, you can see the path this wine has taken over the years. Under the radar, still well priced, and a wine I think will cellar wonderfully, I purchased all I could get in California- but that’s not much! Let me know if you need any! - JR