Wine specialist Charles
Foley is your expert guide to the potent, long-lived red wines produced from
the Nebbiolo grape in the picturesque hill towns of Piedmont in northwest Italy
Piedmont, the land of
grissini, white truffles and fog (nebbia), is also home to the beautiful wines,
Barolo and Barbaresco. Crafted from the Nebbiolo grape, these robust,
age-worthy reds are the perfect companions to rich Italian dishes of beef and
game, risotto with mushrooms or truffle-flavoured pasta.
Navigating your way through
the maze of vineyards huddled around the slopes of the glorious little hill
towns where the wines are made is a delight. We hope these five key signposts
through the wines of the region will help kickstart your journey towards the
collection and drinking of Barolo and Barbaresco.
Barolo is produced mainly
in five communes which all surround the hill towns of the same name: La Morra,
Serralunga d’Alba, Montforte d’Alba, Castiglione Falletto and Barolo.
Over the hills the
neighbouring Barbaresco is made in the communes of Barbaresco, Neive, Treiso
and San Rocco Seno d’Elvio.
Each delivers its own style
of the Nebbiolo grape, a distinctive personality which runs through the soil of
the towns, exists in the minds of its winemakers and collects in the red pool
sitting in the bottom of your glass.
With limestone soils, La
Morra and Barolo offer delicate and elegant wines packed full of mulberry,
strawberry, mint and dried herbs. Serralunga d’Alba, Montforte d’Alba and
Castiglione Falletto lie on sandstone soils which contribute to a broader
style, firmer tannins and darker flavours. Plums, damsons and liquorice abound
in its ripe, juicy fruit.
Barbaresco lies south of
the Tanaro river and the cool sea breezes travelling up the valley ripen the
grapes more quickly than in Barolo. These early-ripening tannins are delicately
filigreed and produce wines of voluptuousness and ripeness, which are easier to
drink at a younger age than their more northerly cousins. Treiso and San Rocco
are the feminine, floral side of the region, while Neive and Barbaresco itself
provide a more masculine structure and complexity……..
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