78 ITALIA! March 2007

BAROLO

A wine is only as fi ne as its source – Paul Pettengale revisits the small town of Barolo, in Piedmont, searching out the best wines the region has to offer.

Barolo should not just be drunk: it should be visited. The wine has a world-class reputation – one that’s vary rarely eroded by poor examples and that’s bolstered by the telephone-number price tags that the very best can achieve. Many know of its alternative monicker – ‘The king of wine and the wine of kings’ – and most wine lovers have opened their wallets wide and pulled out plenty of the folding stuff so that they can, at least once, experience the wine and what it has to offer. And each time you open a bottle of Barolo you are indeed taking part in an experience, rather than just delving into another bottle of red. And these experiences are memorable – every one of them. I remember opening a treasured magnum of Riserva Barolo that I’d been given as a gift by one of the estate owners in the village of La Morra. I shared it with my good friend Alan, his partner Therese and my wife. Since then Alan, who rarely drinks at all, will talk with a passion and a fervour about that night, the wine, the food and the company. A single bottle of wine (albeit a very precious one) has crystallised an evening into a treasured memory But to really know Barolo you’ve got to go there. You’ve got to meet the people who make it to understand their passion, the reverence with which they hold their wine. You’ve got to pack your bags, get on that plane to Turin, make the journey up into the hills of the Langhe region of Piedmont and sit in the vineyards taking in the incredible views. The French talk about the essence of a wine being its terroir; the particular characteristics of the very place that the vines are planted – the climate, the soil, the wind direction – being the fundamental elements of a wine’s construction and taste. Sit in a fi eld around the town of Barolo and you start to understand what they are on about. Barolo is made from the Nebbiolo grape variety, one that’s not unique to Piedmont (it’s also grown in Lombardy and Aosta – both regions bordering the grape’s homeland), though it’s here where the conditions are just right, so that
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wines of enormous character and complexity can be made. It’s to do with the hills around the six Barolo-producing communes (Barolo, La Morra, Verduno, Castiglione, Monforte and Serralunga), the soil that’s rich in clay marl and calcareous matter (limestone mud, for want of a better term), and the fact that Nebbiolo is a late ripening grape, usually picked in October when the fi rst hill mists (nebbie – thought to be the source of the variety’s name) rise. Old-style wines are virtually non-existent now. Before the 80s Barolo had to be laid down for enormous lengths of

that are at their best fi ve to ten years after being placed in the bottle. Still a long time in comparison to the wines of the New World, but far more acceptable that the ageing process that had to be applied to the wines of old. Barolo itself is small – little more than a village really, with just 700 or so inhabitants – and walking around it doesn’t take long. There are enotecche to explore and there is a vast array of wines from the region available to browse and to taste in the commune’s castle. Tourists will fl ock during the summer, but during early spring and later in

The Barolos that winemakers produce today can rival a great Bordeaux or a fine Burgundy for deftness and character.

time – two, even three, decades – before they were ready to drink. Maturation in large barrels following fermentation and maceration for an over-long periods of time resulted in wines that were laden with tannins – and that would take an age to break down enough for the wine to become palatable. Thankfully, due to the efforts of modern winemakers in the region, who rightfully acknowledged that the wines of Piedmont were being left way behind the owners of more progressive estates in Italy and abroad, the Barolo that we have today can rival a great Bordeaux or a fi ne Burgundy for deftness and character. The big, brutish wines of the past have been replaced by modern drinks

the year it’s a quiet, peaceful place to come to sample its wines and chat to the locals. There’s usually only one topic of conversation. Buying Barolo in the UK has never been easier. Most supermarkets will have one priced at between £12 and £18. That’s small fry, though; wines from the famous Gaja house will cost many hundreds – if you can fi nd them. Good Barolo starts at around £20 a bottle, with exceptional bottles costing upwards of £30. Yes, these are very expensive wines to buy, but you’re buying more than a wine: you’re buying an occasion – and one that, like my friend Alan, you’ll never forget. ■ !

March 2007 ITALIA! 79