Barolo and Barbaresco
The wine regions of Barolo and Barbaresco sit in Piedmont, in the North of Italy, nestling in the foothills of the Alps. The area is home to two of Italy’s greatest red wines, both made from the same grape, Nebbiolo, so named after the fog or ‘nebbia’ which rolls across these hills so often in spring.
Nebbiolo is an unusual grape in that it has a very thin skin and so produces wines relatively light in colour, yet it has huge amounts of tannin, which enable the wine to age for a long time if well tended in the vineyard and well made in the cellar. Think the paleness of red Burgundy, but with the tannic punch of a young red Bordeaux.
For this reason, Barolo was famously unapproachable in youth and needed 3 to 4 years at least before beginning to be drinkable – and even then, with food. This is not a wine to sup on its own. However, modern winemaking techniques, and indeed the general desire for wines to be drinkable when younger, means that more approachable wines are now available. The tensions between the ultra traditionalists and ultra modernists, with the spectrum of approaches in between, has been playing out for 40 odd years and are exemplified in the 2014 file the Barolo Boys.
Barolo is divided into eleven communes – Barolo, La Morra, Castliglione Falleto, Serralunga d’Alba, Monforte d’Alba, Grinzane Cavour, and parts of Novello, Verduno, Cherasco, Diano d’Alba and Roddi. See the map below, courtesy of Quattrocalici. Most Barolo is produced from the first five of these, the original communes. The zone is broadly divided into two valleys – the Serralunga to the East and the Central to the West. Wines from the Serralunga tend to be austere, on account of soils of sand, limestone and iron; whereas those from the Central valley tend to more perfumed aromas and velvety textures, on account of more more clay in the soil. In addition, there is significant variation within each commune in terms of altitude and aspect, so much so that the ‘cru’ concept of the importance of individual vineyard plots, seen so clearly in Burgundy, is beginning to become more prominent in Barolo.
Barbaresco is a smaller appellation than Barolo, and produces wines which are broadly consodered to be different in character, typically with the tannins softening quicker. The main reason for this is that Barbaresco is closer to the river Tanaro and receives a slight influence which enables the grapes to ripen sooner. But generalisations are dangerous in wine, and there are many examples of tannic Barbarescos and light and fragrant Barolos.
Barbaresco is itself split into three regions based on the three principal towns – Barbaresco, Neive and Teiso – see below, again courtesy of Quattrocalici. The soil and climate across these three is considerably more uniform than in Barolo, although there are local differences and a cru system for individual plots exists here as in Barolo.
Click below to see the reviews of the properties I visited on a tour in April and May 2018.