Vines
As the vines grow and
the grapes ripen and mature,
so will descriptive information
on Italy’s grape varieties.
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Nebbiolo
Grown mostly in Northern Italy, Nebbiolo is prominent throughout Piedmont and parts of Lombardy and subalpine Valle d’Aosta with a written history dating back several centuries. A fussy grape variety, Nebbiolo prefers calcareous soil at higher altitudes and cooler climates with full sun during the day. So many producers plant their vines are the hills’ southern slopes, sori, where sunlight is longest. A very late harvest grape, Nebbiolo derives its name from nebbia, or fog, since it is often harvested late when the Piemontese hills are shrouded in fog, and the ripe grapes have a white powdery appearance reminiscent of fog.
Nebbiolo is famous as Barolo and Barbaresco, wines of such nobility with assertive tannins, that several years of aging is usually required to achieve balance and soften tannins. It is also the base for Sfursat, an Amarone-style wine worth having in your cellar. Some Nebbiolo wines are consumed young, such as Nebbiolo d’Alba, Ghemme, Gattinara and Franciacorta, but these wines always have a depth to them that many young wines of other grape varieties lack.
Wines of significance, Nebbiolo and Nebbiolo-based wines are great for sipping as well as enjoying with food. Choose dishes with complexity and depth mirroring Nebbiolo’s character, such as game with spices, meat with red wine sauce, vegetable and grain-based dishes with cheese sauce, or with assertive cheeses (bloomy white rind and washed-rind), eggs and chocolate. The best? By itself, as “food in a glass”.
