Barolo & Barbaresco

Wine Style:
Barbaresco: Elegant and full-bodied red. Suggested food pairings include Suckling Pig.

Barolo: Full-bodied and powerful Red and can be enjoyed a few years after bottling. Suggested food pairings include Game Steak, Wild Boar, and Pasta topped with local Truffles.

Flavors:

Origin:
Piedmont in Northern Italy

Found:
Italy

Nebbiolo (内比奥罗) is is the key grape in the wines of Barolo and Barbaresco. It is not the most planted variety, but it does make the most distinctive wines. Native to Piedmont, Nebbiolo is a bit of a soil snob - it’s finicky about where it grows and has long been the honored red grape of Northern Italy only due to its lack of success elsewhere. Barolo and Barbaresco are the most well known DOCG, but two others, Ghemme and Gattinara, are the other Piedmont regions making top notch Nebbiolo.

Tar and roses are the descriptors most often used for Nebbiolo wines. An odd combination perhaps, but accurate. Some wines from Nebbiolo can seem overly tannic and acidic when young, but as velvety as rose petals when mature. It’s a grape with the toughness of tar and earth, yet with a soft, floral character keeping it balanced. Many winemakers create approachable-while-young wines from Nebbiolo, like Nebbiolo d’Alba.

These affordable representations of Nebbiolo can be quite delicious and give the drinker a preview of the intricacies and complexity that a mature Barolo/Barbaresco can provide.

Further Reading:
Barolo
Wikipedia
Italian Made
The Wine News
Italian Wine Merchant
Bella Online

Barbaresco
Wikipedia
Detroit News
West Coast Wine
Italian Made
Wine Access
Wine Review Online