We've pulled together a special 6 pack of PIedmont Nebbiolo to accompany this guide, including 4 Cru Barolo and Barbaresco. Click here to get it for an incredible $499 (save $90 off RRP).
You could think of Nebbiolo as Italy’s answer to French Pinot Noir. Not because you are likely to confuse them in a glass, but because they are both grapes that are excellent at expressing their terroir (the soil and micro-climate in which they are grown), and with which winemakers can spend a lifetime trying to create the perfect wine. For that reason, the best expressions of both grapes are renowned by wine lovers globally and often come with a price that is out of reach for most of us. Of course, in our range we think we’ve found world class examples that offer excellent value.
Let’s get located
Piedmont (Piemonte in Italian), the home of Nebbiolo, is in the north west of Italy sandwiched between the Alps (the name means foot of the mountain) and the Mediterranean. It accounts for 90% of global Nebbiolo production.
If we zoom in further - the Langhe region of Piedmont is the most important for Nebbiolo, and yes, that’s where all of the Vino Cammino range are grown. At the southern end of Piedmont, the name Langhe, which means hills, says it all about the place. It is a truly stunning setting of steep slopes, hilltop towns and vineyards as far as the eye can see. With the alps rising majestically on the horizon, it’s our pick for most spectacular wine region in the world.
Because it is a slow ripening grape, the fogs that are prevalent through the Langhe can spell disaster for Nebbiolo vineyards which need all the sun they can get. It’s for that reason, that the highest hilltops and steepest slopes are reserved for Nebbiolo. Despite its fame and popularity, it accounts for less than 5% of grape production in Piedmont in large part due to that limitation of appropriate sites (the majority of production is from the Barbera grape - we have a great Barbera d’Alba from Cecilia Monte).
What’s it like?
Given that it expresses its terroir so well, it’s hard to generalise about what to expect from any given Nebbiolo (see below for more details on the range we carry), but there are some common markers.
If you aren’t already familiar with Nebbiolo, we guarantee you’ll be fooled by how it looks v how it smells v how it tastes. It commonly has a paler colour than many other red wines, which for most Australians is an indicator that it will be a lighter, fruitier style of wine. The nose will continue to lead you down that path, with delightfully delicate fruit and floral aromas. But then in the mouth you get high acid, high tannin and high alcohol contributing to a very full bodied experience, often with lots of delicious savoury flavours. The best examples can age and improve for decades. That range of experience from a single glass is one of the things we love about Nebbiolo.
What they’re called on the labels
We offer 4 distinct categories of Nebbiolo at Vino Cammino, all from the Langhe:
- Langhe Nebbiolo (for those keeping score, the name is the region, followed by the grape). An excellent and more affordable wine. Spends less time maturing, and therefore less oak influence, so usually a little lighter in body (though still a big wine) and more focussed on the fruit. Often grown on the harder to ripen northern facing slopes or outside of the Barolo and Barbaresco crus. But as you might have come to expect from us, that’s not the case for the version we offer. Cecilia Monte makes hers from the Serracapelli cru, the same vineyard as her Barbaresco. It’s the wine we receive most feedback from our mailing list members about, and it’s extremely good value.
- Barolo (region, not grape). The pinnacle wine of the Barolo sub-region in the Langhe, sometimes referred to as the “King of Wine”. Easily the most famous example of Nebbiolo globally. With 11 communes (smaller areas within the region named for the local village) and 170 named vineyards (or ‘crus’), Barolo lovers can endlessly explore the impact of soil and microclimates across the region, but you can also think about 2 camps of winemakers: traditionalists and modernists. Traditionalists tend to have longer macerations (time the wine is in contact with the skin) and age the wine in large, old oak barrels. This means the tannins come primarily from the grapes themselves rather than the wood, so the flavours are more fruit driven than oak driven. To soften those tannins, age rather than oak is put to use. Inspired by French techniques, the Modernists opt for less maceration but age in smaller French style barrels to produce a similar tannin level. The modernist wines tend to be ready to drink earlier, as the tannins are softer, and show the usual vanilla notes from the oak. While the modern style drove the popularity of Barolo from the 1980s, particularly in the US, we prefer the traditional style, which is the approach Cagliero takes. After all, lower oak use is a big reason we at Vino Cammino love the Italian reds in the first place! This means our Barolo range is best to age before drinking to soften those tannins, but happily Stefano has given us access to some back vintages stored at the estate since bottling to shortcut that process. The Cagliero Barolos are drawn from two crus, Ravera and Terlo, both from the Barolo commune (so yes you might call this a Barolo Barolo).
- Barbaresco (region, not grape). The pinnacle wine of the Barbaresco sub-region in the Langhe. Unhelpfully known as the Queen to Barolo’s King, which for reasons of output (production is around 1/3 of Barolo) and fashion, is relatively overlooked globally next to Barolo (in other words, for no good reason). The experts will tell you that Barbaresco has lower tannin than Barolo, in part due to a slightly milder climate, and as such its requirement for aging before release is one year less. But while you might just pick the difference in a side by side comparison - we’ve got to admit we’re still hard-pressed to reliably pick if a random pinnacle Nebbiolo is a Barolo or Barbaresco. That said, the Barbarescos of Cecilia Monte are markedly different from the Cagliero Barolos. Her blend of traditional and modern techniques provide the perfect balance of soft tannins with only a hint of oak influence in the flavours. We find the floral notes are more prominent on the nose, but still plenty of savoury goodness in the mouth. There are 66 named crus across 4 communes in Barbaresco. Cecilia draws grapes from two: San Giuliano and Serracapelli, at the northernmost tip of the region.
- Langhe Rosso (region, followed by “red”): In addition to the 100% Nebbiolos, we offer one blend of Nebbiolo with another Langhe speciality grape, Dolcetto. If you’re looking for that Nebbiolo influence without the big acid, tannin and alcohol of the 100% varietal style, then the Langhe Rosso from Cagliero is the wine for you. That said, don’t expect too much lightness as Stefano throws in the skins from the Barolo production for a second fermentation :)
How to get the best out of Nebbiolo
Two things to remember: air and food.
Air: Particularly with the Barolo and Barbaresco, Nebbiolo needs air to open up the full range of flavours in the wine. If you provide the air over a decade or two, under cork, you’ll get the benefit of softer tannins and the development of prominent tertiary flavours like leather, truffles and tar. If you do it over hours in a decanter, you’ll still have big tannins, but more of a focus on the floral and fruit nature of the wine. The younger the wine, the more time you need in a decanter (at least 3 hours for a new release, but even 8 hours wouldn’t kill them). The older the wine, the less air they’ll need, but the more likely you’ll need to decant to remove sediment.
Food: Did we mention these are big wines?! They need big food! Think fat, butter or oil… A nice fatty meat or hard cheese will go a long way to taming those tannins.
Happy drinking!