From the treasures of Piedmont: Barolo

From the treasures of Piedmont

 

My friends read the blog and most of them insisted over the same thing, "you should bring in articles about wine” all in unison. For them I am an encyclopedia of wines. But honestly I don’t consider myself of that caliber. On a scale of ten I would mark myself at some odd 5.5-6 only. It can be below it but definitely not above it. I believe there is lot more to explore and learn about. So yes, French wines are conventional, historic and immortal. But I want to turn your gaze to another country which is from the same subcontinent and it is Italy. If I start from northern part of the country, I would land first in Piedmont. The Alpine region characterized with mountainous terrain, calcareous marl soils excellent for grapes like Nebbiolo and Dolcetto. The river of Po divided this region into two parts one would be south of Po river and the south east of the city Turin where the town of Alba, hills of Monferrato and Langhe are located. This area accounts for the most of the wine production in Piedmont. There are many DOC (that means Denominazione de Origine Controllata) overlapping each other. The famous DOCGs (that means Denominazione de Origine Controllata Garantita) Barolo and Barberesco come from the zone located to the north of the river Po. This article is about one of the oldest wine called Barolo. “The Burgundy of Italy”, as it is called. The wine Barolo is called the king of wines and the wine for kings.

Barolo, a region with beautiful chilly climate located on a higher elevation. It is at 50m higher altitude than Barberesco. If global warming seems to benefit someone it’s our grape used in Barolo wine. The increased temperatures of summer followed by the mild autumn helps a misty fog to settle. This is a true blessing for the Nebbiolo which derives its name from the word Nebbia which means fog.This helps the grape to retain the optimum sugar levels. This is a late ripening variety so the harvesting happened usually in early or mid October when a lot of grapes have ripened and there is higher yield. However the modernist approach emphasizes on late September harvest when there is less yield. I know most of us will think the difference between both periods is very miniscule but honestly if you intend to make a word class wine, precision in small factors is irreplaceable.

There is a classic process in which Barolo wine is made from the Nebbiolo grape. This process was perfected by French enologist Louis Oudart. The then Mayor Grinzane Cavour invited Oudart to Barolo to improve the winemaking techniques of the local producers. “It’s not the language French but Winemaking to be learnt the best from the Frenchmen.”  It begins with harvesting followed with the stalking and then pressing. Once the grapes are pressed, the juice is allowed to macerate with skin for almost two months. Such long contact with the skin makes the tannins found in the skin seep into large amounts in the wine. It also incorporates an intense color and juiciness. After this the wine is aged in large oak or chestnut barrels called botti. It has to be minimally aged for two years in barrels. But the wine has to age for almost a decade to mellow down its tannins and build a balance. The idea was that the wine should not be drinkable when it is bottled. The conventional process followed the conventional ideology, “Women and wine get better as they age.” However, some producers wondered that how could they sell a wine which could not be drunk when purchased but after a decade. Second thought was that before the tannin mellowed down the wine would loose the character of fruit in it.

In 1970s and 1980s began the Barolo wars. Yeah! Italians are a little bit like Indians. They fight less with other countries and more within themselves. This was a result of the newly acquired modernists approach to Barolo vinification. The process intended to reduce the tannins in the wine by limiting the period of contact between the pulp and the skins to eight to ten days or a maximum to two weeks. The color and juiciness were left intact with help of improved equipments and techniques. Rotary fermenting machines were brought into use to soften the wine. Also the bottis were replaced with barriques, French oak barrels which were smaller in size. The wine was also aged for the minimum time permitted by wine laws i.e a minimum of three years out of which two years were in cask. The fruity wine produced allowed early drinking in its youth.  The tannins firmly balanced the fruit in the wine making it an excellent wine. The traditional vintners fired back saying that the wine made with such hasty approach of producing masses lacked the structure, powerful tannin and the heady perfume and smelled like a French Oak. Barolo is always accredited as an intellectual wine by vintners, connoisseur and wine merchants. “The modernists Barolo lacked the intellectuality”, the traditionalists put forth as an argument. Barolo collectors, by the way, are almost always men. Why, I don’t know. Maybe wines with firm tannins are a measure of masculinity.

But from History till date change has always been not accepted, opposed to then ridiculed at and later accepted. History repeats this joke with human kind every time still we don’t change. I wonder how History will be laughing uncontrollably. It will be like, “come on this has happened with Galileo, Columbus, Issac Newton, Leonardo Da vinci, Mark Zuckerburg, Google brothers, Operah Winfrey… Grow up.”

 

So how is Barolo, the wine actually? Well like all Nebbiolo wines, even Barolo lacks the opacity of color. It has a clear red garnet color which turns to rust color as it ages further. The wine has heady perfume, scent of violets, prunes, chocolate, a little smoky and tobacco. All are bold scents in delicate hints. The wine is full in your mouth, velvety, round finish and mouth filling. The flavors are as I said bold and long lasting on taste buds. Firm acidity from tannins balances the juiciness exactly. Both styles of vinification exhibit the similar traits.

The wine is ideal to be paired with protein rich food. The tannins of the wine are cut down by the rich proteins in food like pasta with heavy sauces or rich risottos. This is ideal with meat and pairs well with even steamed vegetables as they have a good proportion of proteins in them. The wine exhibits a great complexity and structure. This is not an option for novice wine admirers. It’s not an easy drinking like Beaujolais Nouveau. It’s for little matured taste buds.

 

Cheers!!!

Anaddict