Barolo - The quick guide

Barolo - The quick guide

It seems not a week goes by where I don't mention Barolo somewhere on the blog, but from the emails I receive, especially from the US, it seems Barolo is less well known than Brunello di Montalcino by some segments of the wine drinking community. Whilst it is true that Brunello di Montalcino has come on in leaps and bounds and is picking up award after award with the wine press, Barolo is certainly my favourite Italian wine.

Barolo is consistently produced at a high level, there are 20 or 30 excellent producers who rarely fail to make a stonking wine year after year. Barolo is a less "in your face wine" than Brunello with more femininity and complexity. If you compare an average Barolo to an average Brunello, its my opinion that the Barolo is the better wine.

Barolo comes from the Piemonte region of Italy in its north western corner bordering France. Perhaps because of this proximity the Piemonte can be considered the most French like Italian wine region. The wines from the Piemonte boast a sense of class and tradition with many of the old viticulture techniques still rigidly adhered too.

This is especially true for Barolo, which is going through its most interesting developmental stage in its long history. There are currently two schools of Barolo production fighting it out to produce the best possible wine from the the regal Nebbiolo grape. Old school Vs New school wine making tends to only benefit the wine drinker as both schools push the other to produce wines of higher and higher quality and that is exactly what has happened.

For those who see the world of wine as a chance for investment rather than pleasure, Italian Barolo is hot. The world's best Barolos come out about 5 times cheaper than the world's best Bordeauxs and and as a wine that improves substantially over time, investment in Barolo must surely be a good move. This will be my policy when buying wines over the next 10 years.

So what is new school Barolo?
New school Barolo favours short, hot macerations and spells in new oak. Each producer is experimenting year on year with different kinds of oaks, size of barrels and the time spent in them. Traditionally Barolo was macerated for weeks (making the wines less accessible for early drinking) and allowed to spend years in Slavonian barrels. These experimentations in the wine making process has produced many different and exciting kinds of Barolo.

So who produces the best Barolo?
The questions is difficult to answer as the two schools are producing different types of Barolo so we need to split it up New School Vs Old School.

The most famous traditional producers would be: Giuseppe Rinaldi, Giuseppe Mascarello, Giovanni Conterno, Paolo Conterno, Cavallotto, Bruno Giacosa, Luigi Pira, Vietti. Modernist producers among others: Scavino, Ceretto, Sandrone, Domenico Clerico, E. Pira, Parusso, Silvio Grasso.

Just to be difficult, Roberto Voerzio and Elio Altare tread a path somewhere between these two schools with great success, with Voerzio being my favourite producer (have I said that before, I think perhaps!)

What kind of wine is Barolo?
As it used to take a good 10 years to soften up and become accessible the wines went from being a dark ruby to a much lighter brick red and the bouquet became less punchy over time but very opulent and refined. The Giacosa Barolo Falletto 1998 is at a great age to show these characteristics, I highly recommend you try this 97 Point beautiful wine.

The modernist Barolos still age but can be opened 5 years off the vine. These Barolos are darker and much more fruity and more appealing to an international market, I mean the USA, I mean wine critics, I mean Robert Parker! My personal preference is for the aged traditional Barolos but only just, I think the wines of Domenico Clerico alone marks a great case for modern Barolo.

The traditional Barolos can be very awkward between 5-10 years old, so if you want to try a young traditionalist Barolo make sure its very young, IE, this years bottling OR buy a 1998 as the youngest choice, preferably older.

Over Christmas I sampled two Barolos that do illustrate the differences quite well. Cavallotto's traditional Barolo and Sandrone's 2000 modernist effort scored the same points for my palate, whilst being really very different wines, they are both quality.

Cavallotto Barolo Boschis Riserva Vigna San Guiseppe 1997 - BUY - €50
Lovely light brick red in the glass with orange hues the wine had a smokey nose, some great fruit and a refined and complex character. The mouth feel is what will blow you away, silky with beautiful tannins and a powerful finish. Surprisingly fruity on the mid palate but a wine of real quality, complete and complex. 94 Points

Sandrone Barolo le Vigne 2000 - BUY - €70
This wine has a knock out nose that can't fail to please, we're talking about a beautiful nose with cherries as the standout nose profile with strawberries and hints of tar in the background. Powerful, thick and dense for a Barolo the wine has good amounts of fruit and a fresh and satisfying finish that will have you smacking your lips. I really enjoyed the wine though it lacked the finesse I was expecting. 94 Points

Where can I buy this wine? - The Cavallotto gives better QPR.
Europeans - La Banca del Vino - €42
Americans - The Bottle Shop - $75
Brits - The Wine Bank - £30

Question of the Day?
Have you tried Barolo and if so, who is your favourite producer?

Italian Wine News - Week 01/01/08

Tocai or Tokaj who can tell the difference?

Poor old Italian Tocai, a victim of its own name is being forced to choose another by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg because it is too close to the much more famous, Hungarian Tokaj. The two wines are very different, the Hungarian Tokaj being a sweet honey coloured, semi-desert wine, with the wine from Friuli-Venezia Giulia being white and tart.

If someone can not tell the difference between these two wines either by name, reputation or taste then they shouldn't be drinking them. How have we managed all these years to live in this state of utter confusion?

Tocai now has to break its long standing tradition and change it's name to something else. Proposals to call the Italian wine Tocai Friulano, just Friulano, Tai or even hold to the original Tocai remain snarled up in disputes among the producers.

Prosecco still on the up - Kudos to Paris

Italian sparkling wine, generally known as spumante or prosecco, is becoming increasingly popular abroad where it is now recognized as the alternative to French champagne.

According to the Coldiretti farmers’ union, some 80 million bottles of spumante will be popped at the end of the year in Italy and 50 million bottles abroad, a 22% jump in value over last year.

Almost half of the 300 million bottles of spumante produced in Italy every year are drunk between the middle of December and the middle of January.

In Italy, the union observed, only 2% of the bubbly consumed during the end of the year holidays is French champagne and this because of the major quality/price advantage of prosecco.

This advantage is also boosting sales abroad, with increases of 16% in Germany, 8% in the United States and 72% in Britain, which is now prosecco’s third largest market.
In Russia, spumante sales are up this year by 124%, in Spain by 33% and in France prosecco imports rose 2%.

Spumante is now outselling champagne in the United States and Switzerland and last year exports of prosecco broke the threshold of 100 million bottles.

According to a recent article in the prestigious British weekly The Economist, spumante sales abroad have doubled over the past 15 years and risen fivefold over the past five years in Britain, for a total of 1.1 million bottles in 2006.

Prosecco is also winning over wine experts who accept it as the alternative to champagne, the Economist wrote.

However, the success of prosecco abroad ”will now be at risk because of the European Union reform of the wine sector which Italy voted for,” observed Coldiretti chief Sergio Marini.
Italy, Marini explained, ”failed to exploit its market position against producers in northern Europe. Italy lost a battle in Brussels and this was a defeat for the national wine sector”.
Most Italian spumante is made using the Charmat Method or ‘closed tank’ method, compared to the traditional Champenoise Method.

The Charmat Method, invented in the early 1900’s by Eugene Charmat, involves putting bubbles in wine by adding sugar to a sealed tank, letting a second fermentation take place and then transferring it to a bottle under pressure.

In the Champenoise Method, invented by the French monk Dom Perignon in 1640, the wine is fermented in the same bottle in which it will eventually be served.