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A
Guide for Barolo and Barbaresco
By John Fodera
Ciao
tutti,
First,
a few "Author's notes"....
1)
This post was proofread and critiqued by my good friend Kevin Williams,
who shares my passion for vini Italiano! His advice was invaluable.
2)
This post is for every member of this community except for Trent,
to whom I simply say, go FUTRENT yourself. And now onto the matter
at hand!
Among
the greatest wines in Italy, Barolo and Barbaresco (B&B) generate
much more confusion than many of their Italian counterparts. Hailing
from Piedmont in Northwest Italy, B&B has become the Burgundy
of Italy, in more ways than one. That's an analogy the region does
not need, but one that is being made more and more often.
The
Background:
B&B
are made from a single varietal called the Nebbiolo grape. Nebbiolo
takes its name, in Piedmontese dialect, from the word "Nebbia" which
means fog. This refers to the fog that crosses over the Apennine
mountains every fall and settles in Piedmont just as the grapes
are ripening and almost always in time for harvest.
So
what is B&B? Are they de-limited zones? Specific villages? Or
wines? You guessed it, the answer is yes. Both wines are made in
geographic areas specified under Italian law. Both wines must be
100% Nebbiolo and within each geographic zone is a village bearing
the name of the wine in question. In "chicken and egg lingo", I
suppose the village came before the wine in this case, but that's
just semantics. So what's the difference between the two then?
Differences
: The Law matters, but so does terroir:
Besides
the geographic location, whose importance I cannot stress enough,
the differences between B&B could be described as subtle. There
are yield per hectare differences, minimum alcohol content differences,
and perhaps most importantly, aging requirement differences.
Regarding
the aging requirement only, for a wine to be labeled as Barolo,
it must be aged for at least 3 years, two of which must be in wood.
To qualify as a Riserva, the aging must increase to 5 years. For
a wine to be labeled as Barbaresco, the aging is reduced to 2 years,
1 of which must be in wood. To qualify as a Riserva, the wine must
age for 4 years. Additionally, minimum alcohol contents are increased
by at least .5 percentage points in Riserva wines.
Perhaps
the single most important aspect that sets the wines apart is the
terroir and the vineyards that produce the grapes and wine. Barolo
has been called "The King of Wines and The Wine of Kings". It is
often thought of as such with it's massive tannins, high acidity
and high alcohol content. Yet ripe Barolo is wonderfully fragrant
and deep and massive in the mouth. If there is a knock on Barolo,
it would be it's lack of finesse. Conversely, Barbaresco could be
considered the Queen to Barolo. While not as massive, great Barbaresco
exhibits an elegance, grace, and finesse not surpassed by many wines.
The vineyards, aging process, and vinification techniques often
make Barbaresco approachable somewhat sooner than its sibling Barolo,
but the best examples of this wine will still live and thrive for
20 years beyond the vintage.
The
many faces of B&B:
What's
so confusing about that, one might say. True, I haven't said much
that's too hard to live with, but the post ain't over yet!
Barolo
and Barbaresco can wear many stylistic faces. This may not seem
surprising, especially when considering the various and numerous
producers. However, B&B can take on different traits depending
upon where the fruit is sourced from, not unlike Napa vs. Sonoma
vs. Mountain vs. Valley floor fruit.
The
Nebbiolo for Barolo is grown in the vineyards in and around the
hill top town of Alba, and the neighboring communes of Castiglione-Falleto,
Monforte d'Alba, Serralunga d'Alba, Barolo, and La Morra. Generally
speaking, the Barolo sourced from vineyards near the first three
communes are the biggest wines made, while the Barolo from the latter
two communes are more refined and a bit more graceful. The Nebbiolo
for Barbaresco is grown in and around the villages of Barbaresco,
Neive, and Treiso which are adjacent, to the North East of Alba.
Labels
: And then, confusion set in:
Here
is where many of the similarities to Burgundy will become apparent.
At a minimum, B&B will be labeled simply as such. However, this
is the bare minimum and with the exception of Bartolo Mascarello,
perhaps the most staunch traditionalist in all of Piedmont, most
labels carry much more information. Here's an attempt to decipher
some of it.
Like
Burgundy, many bottlings will be identified with a vineyard name.
Names such as Bussia, Rabaja, Brunate, Bric Balin, Bric del Fiasc,
Avili and Cannubi, crop up frequently. Although not officially classified
as such, some vineyards are regarded much higher than others and
some have a reputation of producing certain styles of fruit. Furthermore,
to confuse the issue more, many vineyards are owned by dozens of
winemakers! Some winemakers make their best wine from the vineyard
in question, while others make wine from the same vineyard that
would best not be made at all! Additionally, certain vineyards are
divided into subplots by certain producers and you will even see
the subplot listed on the label, often times appearing as a vineyard
designation. A perfect example of this is Aldo Conterno. From his
Bussia Soprana vineyard comes as many as 5 different wines : Barolo
Bussia Soprana, Barolo Vigna Cicala, Barolo Vigna Colonello, Barolo
Romirasco, and his prestige cuvee : Barolo GranBussia. The demarcation
can be endless so it pays to do your homework. My only advice is
to commit as much to memory as you can. Which vineyards are known
to be the best, which producers are reliable and what methodology
has the producer used in bottling his wine. What I mean by this
last point is best shown by an illustration. Back to Aldo Conterno
– his Barolo Granbussia is a blend of the best fruit from the best
lots from each of the three subplots I mentioned above : Cicala,
Colonello, and Romirasco. While he bottles single vineyard Barolos
from the first two plots regularly, he will not make a single vineyard
Romirasco unless a GranBussia is not made! Therefore, if you see
a Romiraso designation on a bottle of Aldo Conterno Barolo it means
two things: 1) There was no GranBussia made in that vintage and
2) The vintage may not be as good as some others, otherwise a GranBussia
would have been made!
Two
other important terms that may come up on Barolo or Barbaresco labels
are the dialect terms "Bricco" or "Sori". These terms are important
because they translate to Ridge and Slope respectively. When these
terms are used on the label, the producer is indicating that the
vineyards that produced the wine lie on a ridge or slope where presumably
all the positive aspects of the weather are in confluence : Southerly
facing exposure, altitude, drainage, etc.. It is used to signify
a "superior" vineyard location. To my knowledge, there is no legal
definition of when a producer may or may not use these terms, but
in my experience, the producers that do use them, do so with discretion.
Traditional
versus New Wave:
A
lot is being said recently of the new wave of B&B hitting the
markets. A seemingly endless line of new producers are coming to
the fore and trying to "re-define" B&B. In general terms, there
are traditional producers and there are new wave producers. I also
happen to think that there is a third category which I call the
middle of the road producers. These are producers that use modern
technique and perhaps some methodology, but fall short of a full
blown new wave product.
A
B&B produced in the traditional style will employ very extended
macerations, not attempt to smooth out the grapes tannins in any
way and produce a wine that probably needs upwards of 10 years in
bottle to become approachable. This style has many fans and many
ardent supporters in the Langhe. As I mentioned earlier, Bartolo
Mascarello is so traditional in style that it transcends even to
his labeling of bottles. You will never see any word on any of his
labels other than Barolo or Barbaresco!
B&B's
produced in the new wave style use oak, especially new oak, to a
larger extent than any other producer. Often times barriques will
be used and the resulting wine smacks of this treatment. Vanilla,
spices, creaminess, etc… may all be evident in this style of winemaking.
Tannins are managed better and the producers tend to strive for
a more approachable wine and often times a wine where the fruit
is more to the forefront.
Then
there's the hybrid style. These producers attempt to tame the tannins
of the grape without sacrificing the traditional qualities of the
fruit. Oak influence, while it may still be barrique aged, at least
in part, is considerably less than a "full blown" new wave wine.
The length in oak may be less and other methods are employed to
try and smooth the tannins, such as shorter maceration periods,
rotating fermentors, etc.
Which
is better? There are proponents of all. Luckily, at least for me,
I find pleasure in all three styles depending upon my mood and the
producer. I guess I'm not picky. However, if you are, or simply
prefer certain styles much more than others, you will need to understand
the general style of the producer.
The
Producers:
Naturally
this is somewhat a matter of my own preference, but from my tasting
experience, I'd rank the major producer as follows: Bear in mind,
that I may miss one or two since this is basically off the top of
my head and it's also possible that I may repeat a name due to "overlapping"
styles.
Traditionalists
: Bartolo Mascarello, G. Conterno, G. Mascarello, Vietti, Pio Cesare,
G. Cortese, Bruno Giacosa, Produttori del Barbaresco and perhaps,
to some extent, Aldo Conterno.
The
Middle Ground : Domenico Clerico, Aldo Conterno, Pio Cesare, Prunotto,
Corino, Batasiolo, Marchesi di Gresy, Ceretto, Gancia, Conterno-Fantino
and Angelo Gaja.
New
Wave – As I've said before, anything from the Marc De Grazia stable
would be included here although that clearly would not be the end
of the list : Moccagatta, Sandrone, Altare, Sottimano, Paitin, Manzone,
Corino, Azelia, Scavino, Batasiolo, Domenico Clerico and Germano
Ettore.
The
Future of Nebbiolo?:
One
of the biggest developments in the Langhe occurred very recently
when the Barbaresco consortium discussed certain blending options
for Barbaresco wine. Apparently, several producers (unknown) led
a charge to bolster the wine in weaker vintages at the discretion
of the winemakers. The bolstering affect was going to be to allow
up to 10% Cabernet into the blend for Barbaresco, diluting, what
up until then had been a staunchly traditional wine composed of
a single indigenous varietal. There was quite a bit of infighting
as producers claimed that in weaker vintages they are forced to
declassify all there wine to Nebbiolo d'Alba (which sells for a
fraction of what Barbaresco does) or sell an inferior Barbaresco.
Opponents to this cited heritage, tradition, the absence of French
"popular varietals" and the fact that as it was, Barbaresco was
unique both in flavor and terroir. Why taint it with grapes that
would only lead to a more generic and internationally styled wine?
In the end, with what many felt were "cooler heads", the decision
was made by the consortium to stick to tradition and allow only
Nebbiolo in the blend for Barbaresco. This "ruling" probably headed
off a similar challenge in Barolo as producers were already taking
keen interest in the decision of the Barbaresco consortium.
Still,
innovation will not be stopped and many producers have already bottled
Cabernet, Chardonnay and also blended these grapes with local varietals
including Nebbiolo, Barbera, and Dolcetto. Wines such as La Spinetta's
Pin, Clerico's Arte, Gaja's Darmagi, and Promis, and Aldo Conterno's
three Chardonnays fetch high prices and are often hard to come by.
By any definition, these wines do not represent a vast majority
of the wines produced in the Langhe yet they are quite popular.
So
what lies ahead? I doubt anyone knows for sure, but one thing remains
crystal clear : The future is murkier than ever!
Arrivederci,
Giovanni
Copyright
© John Fodera, October, 1999
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