I feel as though extending this spotlight indefinitely may be the surest path to heaven. Unfortunately, it is time to move on to something new (while stacking my cellar with Nebbiolo for the future). Perhaps the best way to conclude this profile with a wine by a producer who is arguable the greatest in Piedmont and maybe even all of Italy: Giacomo Conterno.

Of Conterno

The Conterno family was the first ever to bottle Barolo rather than selling it as jug wine. This focus became an ultimate adherence to tradition, to the point where the two sons of tradition had disagreement even within their traditionalism. Giacommo’s two sons – Aldo and Giovanni – while agreeing that short maceration and barrique aging is wrong for Nebbiolo, still yet disagreed on other methodologies. Giovanni, the stark traditionalist, only wanted to use very long macerations and aging in huge very old oak casks. Aldo, on the other hand, likes to let his fruit hang a little longer and gain more ripeness. He also tends to ferment in steel as well as old oak, to add youth and freshness to the wine.

This led to Aldo leaving the Conterno family winery and starting his own winery, which is now also considered one of the very best in Piedmont. These days, the original Conterno winery is run by Giovanni’s son Roberto, who maintains his father’s and grandfather’s extreme traditionalism.

Old and New

The Giacommo Conterno Estate now comprises a single site in Monforte d’Alba from which they make both a ‘normale’ and ‘riserva’ Barolo that are not labelled as such but rather as the Cascina Francia and Monfortino bottlings, respectively.

This Nebbiolo is actually a sign of the changes happening to Giacomo Conterno after Roberto’s take over. The wine is made from new holdings in the Ceretta vineyard in Seralunga d’Alba that were purchased in 2008. In fact, this wine is the very first to be made from that vineyard, one which gives rise to such great wines as Bruno Giacosa’s Barolo.

I found this new wine surprisingly forward and accessible for this extreme traditionalist estate. But it keeps the style of Conterno while giving those who can’t pony up the serious cash for the Barolos a glimpse of the house’s greatness.

Inimitable Elegance

Many people make the mistake that “traditional” Nebbiolo-based wines are somehow inaccessible or require a ‘refined’ palate. The opposite is often true, particularly amongst the best ‘traditionalists’. This Nebbiolo is a perfect example: it puts Barolos at the same price to shame with its seamless elegance, easy accessibility, purity and immediate deliciousness.

However, the wine also possesses tremendous complexity and depth, and even the heft to age for a number of years. The underlying fruit quality is extremely pure and this may be amongst the most elegant Nebbiolo’s I’ve ever tasted. The nose is all rose petals, herbs, light red cherries, and endless savory, forest floor complexity. A wine with a structure that is as one and with nothing heavy, overly austere, or off-puttingly rich. In fact, it may be the best Nebbiolo out there for the price.

Excellent+
$65 at Esquin Wine in Seattle

Spotlight Conclusions

It is impossible to capture all of the nuances of terroir in Piedmont in a simple spotlight series on Nebbiolo. Rather, I attempted to show the grape’s breadth, despite its geographic restrictions, and highlight the fact that these are some of the greatest wines in the world while also costing a mere fraction of most of the world’s other “great” wines.

Nebbiolo is a paradox: a heavy, highly tannic grape that seems impenetrable at first, it becomes the source of the most haunting aromas in the world of wine. Power and finesses play easily together with great examples of Nebbiolo and they possess a level of singularity only found with Riesling and Burgundy Pinot Noir. However, Piedmont’s last 12 years have been almost uniformly superb, meaning that the sheer consistency amongst these wines is astounding – something to take advantage of while it lasts.

I am not quite sure what my next focus will be, but whatever I choose will have a hard time following behind some of the great wines I’ve tasted in this spotlight.

With each bottle of Nebbiolo I consume I am slowly being introduced to real obsession. Add to that the majesty of Barolo and I am afraid that my future wine budget has been entirely allocated to these seemingly unaffordable bottles. Then again, when you compare Nebbiolo to Bordeaux, Burgundy and cult Calfornia Cabernet, it is a complete steal.

Nebbiolo Elegance

Elio Grasso is a somewhat modernist. These are middle aged vines (20-25 years for the Barolos), but they are oh so elegant. Near Alba, the clayey, calcerous soils give rise to wines of great elegance and the Grosso is an excellent example of the truly whispy, ethereal nature of Nebbiolo grown in these soils.

Though modernist in their shorter macerations and occasional use of oak barriques, Grasso does generally use Slavonian oak and his wines can best be described as modern elegance coupled with traditional sophistication.

A Feminine Barolo

This 2005, grown in the south-facing Casa Mate vineyard at 300 metres above sea level, presents that vintage’s lighter berry fruits and aromatic elegance. It is surprising that a wine this young can offer so much at this point, but the combination of increasing efforts to use modern techniques to tame the Nebbiolo grape and the basic reality that so-called “lesser” vintages often offer up much more readily drinkable wines than “great” vintages, make this wine an absolute standout amongst current vintages.

The tannins are still firm, though integrated, and while the oak is still just peeking through, this wine is unmistakably Barolo and unmistakably entrancing in its aromatics. I find it quite elegant and finessed and even somewhat feminine on the palate. This is beautiful, entirely seamless silky Barolo for those who like a touch of modernity and plenty of delicious elegance. This is wonderful wine for drinking now and for the next 3-4 years.

So, I have to now revise my favourite wines in the world to: Northern Rhone Syrah, Alsatian Riesling, Chablis, and Piedmontese Nebbiolo.

Excellent
$116 at Kits Wine

Sub-Alpine hills and Italian wine: strange bedfellows. And yet it is with the climatically picky Nebbiolo that these two opposites chime in unison. The Carema DOC in northern Piedmont sits well above the Po river in the mists of the foothills of the Alps. Amazingly, dispite a few growers and a co-operative, Luigi Ferrando is the only independent producer in these parts. Making wine grown on terraced plots in this northern region is a challenge but Ferrando makes one of the most idiosyncratic and exciting Nebbiolo’s I’ve yet tasted.

Farming and Vinification

The Ferrando winery was founded in 1890 and is still owned by the same family. Everything is hand harvested here and the farming is extremely “bio-sensitive” without actually trying to be officially organic or biodynamic. All the wines are stainless steel fermented and then aged in oak. While most of the wines see only more neutral large oak barrels, this wine, his top “Black Label” reserve, does see some new oak, though I’d say they know what they’re doing.

The Alps in Italy

With such a northerly climate, you would expect harsher tannins and higher acid. And these properties can indeed be present in some wines from the North. Ferrando’s wines, however, have none of these detriments, instead being impeccably smooth and balanced. With the cooler climate, though, he manages to coax out even more ethereal aromas than are the norm for Nebbiolo.

Floral and lively on the nose, the higher acids and firmer tannins integrated perfectly with about 1 hour of decanting. The lift is astounding and the aromas, almost herbal like thyme flowers and mountain pollens, remind me more of Alpine grasses and air than anything I traditionally associate with Italy.

A fascinating, stunning Nebbiolo that is more lifted and elegant than Barolo and seems brighter and clearer than most of the more southerly Piedmontese examples. There is a lot of fruit to the wine as well, but it is the wine’s textural seamlessness and tremendous aromatic lift, particularly at this young age, that make it a very special wine. One of the most exciting Nebbiolos I’ve tasted in this spotlight and at a killer price for such legendary quality.

Excellent to Excellent+
~$60 USD at Arlequin Wine in SF

I hate to compare the great wines of the world. It seems facile and entirely subjective. Yet, I can’t help but love the Nebbiolo based wines of Barolo more than most others. For me, these are at the very top of the mountain and though perhaps sitting in the mists for many, once you get hooked you can’t help the compulsion.

Of Soils and Vineyards

So let’s talk about soils. Calcerous marl – a fertile soil that produces softer more delicate Nebbiolo. In the east, the older and poorer soils of marl and sandstone provide deeper more intense wines. However, as discussed in the brilliant Vino Italiano by Joseph Bastianich and David Lynch (no not that Lynch), soil differences are supplemented by cellar technique and the intenser soil profiles can be softened or the more elegant ones can present more hardly simply based on the length of maceration and the use of oak barrels.

The Scavino Carobric creates an even greater enigma, being a blend of the Rocche di Castiglione, Fiasco and Cannubi vineyards in Castiglione Falletto and Barolo respectively. Paolo Scavino reports that the two vineyards in Castiglione do not tend to make great wines on their own but require blending. I suppose the addition of the legendary Canubi vineyard likely adds elegance and power, the Rocche di Castiglione adds aromatics and the Fiasco structure.

2000 vs. 2001

Vintage is important in Piedmont. Not just because “great” vintages make ‘better’ wines but because most Barolos truly do reflect vintage character. Structure and perfume differ considerably between vintages. Let’s take 2000 versus 2001. In 2000 you get greater power but also greater approachability with certain wines. 2000 had enough heat and concentration that the given the fruitiness of the Nebbiolo in that year, the fierce tannins of the grape wer possible to tame earlier using modernist techniques. 2001, in contrast, is a much more structured and tannic vintage. Still warm, it yet tended to produce wines with greater tannin and higher acid than 2000. And we’re not talking such differences that make the wines any less good. Rather, it is a question of style, preference and age. The 2001’s seem to require more age than 2000 for both modernists and traditionalists. In 2000, however, my experiences have suggested that the modernists managed to tame the Nebbiolo beast at an earlier aging curve than the traditionalists, whose wines are still atom-dense. Yet a further testament to the complexity of great Nebbiolo.

Love or Love?

A wine with stunning perfume, I found this 2001 Carobric extremely expressive and deep and in a very good place aromatically. Only Nebbiolo can smell like this and these “haunting aromas” as Oz Clarke describes, are unlike any other wine in the world.

The palate is denser, tighter and slightly darker than other Barolos of the vintage. The fruit begins slightly pruney, but opens to more elegance with air, which suggests to me that with age this wine will transform considerably. I’d say this ultimately needs time to soften and unwind if you’re into wines at full maturity. However, it is also incredibly delicious right now. So, drink now with joy or in 10 years, also with joy. A hard wine not to love.

Excellent to Excellent+
~$160 at Kits Wine Cellar

Barolo. Every wine lover knows the fame of these wines, but few understand the intricacies. For good reason. These are expensive wines, hard to find, made in minute quantities and it is near impossible to find enough examples to put the various cru’s terroirs to comparative analysis.

But, Barolo is the heart of Nebbiolo. The wines are the most complex and indicative of terroir compared to Nebbiolo from any other region. They are also amongst the greatest wines in the world – an amazing achievement for such a small region that places it in the same echelon as Burgundy and the great regions of the Northern Rhone.

Though, as is almost now a cliche in Italy, there is still a division of ideology between the traditionalists and the modernists. Veglio is one of the latter.

The Crus of Barolo

Barolo terroir is a story of the great villages and crus in the Barolo zone. There are 11 villages and many crus within those vineyards. The most famous of the villages are La Morra, Castiglione Falletto, Serralunga d’Alba and Montforte d’Alba. It is the last of these that is the home of the vineyard that is the source of fruit for this wine.

The soils of Barolo tend to either be old or young, making wines of elegance or power, respectively. Castelletto, in Monteforte, generally has young soils producing powerful wines with strong tannins. As such, wine from this cru requires much more time in the bottle before opening than wines made from fruit of the crus with older soils. Modernists such as Veglio try to tame the powerful tannins of such vineyards by using french barriques which tend to smooth the wines out. As such, the 2000 is, unlike some of its compatriots, drinking very well right now.

The Wine

Aged entirely in French barriques, the Castelletto is made with mostly old vine material. Despite the barrique use, the wine has by now come out of its oaken shell and is quite elegant and delicious.

A nose of darker cherries, walnut skins and violets. There is crazy intensity on the nose and palate and with some air the wine shows its complex layering of flavour. This is still youthful wine and will continue to develop for 5-10 years, but is delicious right now with a good food pairing. A very well made Barolo just starting its journey into excitement.

This is not upper echelon Barolo, but it is extremely good, particularly at its price point.

Excellent
~$80 at Kits Wine Cellar

Nebbiolo is a hard grape to access. Good Nebbiolo is found only in a tiny region of Italy (the Langhe), the price of entry is high and even some of the most entry level wines need at least several years of age before opening up (without saying anything of the 10 year minimum for higher quality examples). Yet, Nebbiolo produces perhaps the most intriguing wines in all of Italy.

These are intellectual wines, but they are also wines of ellegance. Some examples may reach the realm of the esoteric, but many skirt the line between intellectual intrigue and sensual pleasure. As with all of Italy, there is a battle going on between the modernists and the traditionalists. Both accept and adopt modern technology, but the extent to which they use it and the style of wine they seek to express differ dramatically. The question is: can both make good wines or, as with Sangiovese, will the traditionalists win out? It may be that, in the end, this dichotomy is too simple, but it is a good place to start.

Barbaresco

Barbaresco is one of the two famed regions in Piemonte (the other being, of course, Barolo) and is situated to the north and east of Alba. The Martinenga vineyard sits on a southwest facing ridge. This, along with the 2000 vintage, likely explains the sheer power of the fruit in this wine. Nonetheless, the calcareous soils of Barbaresco keep this wine more elegant than it would have been with a different base.

Expression with Age

This 11 year old Barbaresco is also a good place to start. 2000 was a superb year in the Langhe, but many of the wines are still incredibly dense and only starting to express themselves. This Barbaresco from the hybrid modernist/traditionalist Marchesi di Gresy, however, is in perfect form. Perhaps it is because of Barbaresco’s lesser need of age, but this wine is singing. It is also classically Nebbiolo, but also speaks much of the vintage, with its ripe, warm lush fruit. Gresy uses a combination of French Barriques and Slavonian Oak and you can taste this in the wine with its combination of forwardness and elegance.

One of the biggest changes in Nebbiolo between young and old is the openness and expressivity of the nose. The Camp Gros was explosive: dark cherries, prunes and flowers. On the palate this wine is elegant, slightly floral and suggestive of sweet pipe tobacco. An extremely long finish completes this truly beautiful wine. It is also delicious now, but will clearly hold up and soften a bit more with a few more years. I can think of no better way to start a Nebbiolo profile than with such a varietally expressive but incredibly drinkable wine.

Excellent to Excellent+
~$100 at Kits Wine