Wine with Leslie: How to get into Nebbiolo without breaking the bank
Pic: iStock
I’m not sure I should be doing this… Nebbiolo is arguably Italy’s greatest grape variety and I’m here to sing its praises today.
The problem is that the best versions will quickly drain your bank account.
Nebbiolo is old, with the first mention dating to 1266 - it is so old that it’s parent grapes are likely extinct.
Jancis Robinson summarises the best Nebbiolo wines as “perfumed, expressive, age-worthy and capable of great beauty,” I couldn’t put it better.
Barolo, Barbaresco and Langhe are its most famous expressions but you will also find it in smaller Piedmont regions such as Bramaterra, Ghemme and Gattinara as well as in Valtellina in Lombardy.
It has been grown outside Italy but it is rare to find the same profundity that even lesser Italian wine regions can produce with this grape.
The perfume is the key, from strawberries to cherries (both sweet and sour), to tar to rose petals to ink to cold tea to smoke - sometimes all at once but with red fruit generally the dominant note.
It is late ripening so it can struggle in some cooler northern regions but it almost always offers charm.
Any good wine shop will have good Nebbiolo, besides the wines below watch for Varja, Conterno, Produttori Barbaresco are more names (try MacCurtain Wine Cellar).
On Monday September 2 in the Hyatt Centric Dublin, you can learn more with a tutored tasting and masterclass as part of the Barolo & Friends Event.
Sandro Minella, Scientific Director of the Barolo-Barbaresco Academy is hosting, 6pm start, tickets: €40 available on eventbrite.ie (search for Barolo).
Three relatively affordable Nebbiolo suggestions this week, best served a little cooler - say around 12-14C.
- If you are at Electric Picnic do visit Drinks Theatre, where I will be doing some tastings with wines from Whelehans.
Ascheri are a solid producer based in Bra, home to the slow food movement, I also recommend their striking modern hotel above the winery. Ascheri Barolo is €39 and has fine concentration and fruit but I also rate their Langhe Nebbiolo which offers similar pleasures - liquorice and red fruit aromas, black cherry palate, focused and balanced.
This sounds suspiciously cheap for Barolo but be not afraid this has good typicity and drinks early - the Sartirano family have run the estate for 4 generations and also source from neighbours. Tar and rose petal aromas with a touch of ink and spice, red fruits, integrated tannins, fruit and elegance.
The Oddero Barbaresco and Barolo wines are gorgeous with succulent complex fruit flavours and a long life, but they also cost over €70 so are perhaps for special occasions. Their Langhe Nebbiolo is a little approachable in youth and in price! Floral, earth-tinged cherry fruits, layered, grippy but approachable with fruit, spice and herbal notes.
OBrother Brewing is one of the success stories of Irish craft brewing and they are about to move production to the Belmont Demesne in Wicklow which will include a tap room and visitor centre. This collab with Aldi is a good introduction to their beer and at this price you can buy more than one for your ‘session’.
This pours cloudy and hazy with a light honey-gold hue - bright aromas of pine and citrus, creamy, fruity and crisp. Perfect for bringing to Electric Picnic!
