Meaning ‘little fog’ – referring to the thick fog that sets in around the Piemonte hills during harvest time – the Nebbiolo grape produces wines with high tannins and acidity which can require years of ageing before being ready to drink. It is a fickle fruit , ripening late in the growing season and unable to adapt well to soils other than those found in the Langhe hills. Here, where it revels in the calcareous-marl rich soil, it is responsible for producing the wines of Barbaresco and the grandest of all Italian appellations, Barolo. At its finest, Barolo is without a doubt, the ultimate expression of the Nebbiolo grape.
Up until the middle of the 19th Century, Barolo was a sweet wine. Then, in the cellars of the Marquis of Barolo, French oenologist, Louis Oudart, was able to ferment the Nebbiolo must completely dry, with this new style quickly becoming popular among the Italian nobility. These wines are thick and tannic, displaying complex aromas of plum, tobacco, tar and roses, and taking some ten years or longer to reach maturity.
In the 1980s further changes to the style of Barolo took place. Looking to appeal to consumer tastes which favoured less tannic wines that could be drunk at a younger age, some producers broke away from the conventional methods and started making more fruit driven wines. As well as having more fruit, these modern styled Barolos have riper tannins and more creamy, vanilla flavours due to being aged in barriques of new oak.
Whether modern or traditional in style, top Barolos show surprisingly good finesse for such weighty wines.
Food matching
Big, powerful, tannic wines need to be paired with food of a similar weight. Italian wines, more than any other, with perhaps the exception of Burgundy, are produced to compliment the local cuisine. Barolo best suits meat dishes, rich pastas and risotto where the tannins come across as more mellow when combined with the proteins in the food.