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Nebbiolo

This noble red Italian grape can produce some of the world’s best wine in the form of Barolo and Barbaresco. Some Barolos cost over £50 per bottle and the wine can be kept for 40 years or more. 

The grape is grown mainly in the Piedmont area of Italy. It is a relative of another Piedmont grape, Freisa and the French grape Viognier. The name Nebbiolo may come from the local dialect word “nebbia” which means fog or perhaps refers to the “bloom” of yeast on the ripe grapes which gives them a foggy or frosted appearance.  Alternatively it may come from the Italian word for noble, nobile. The Nebiolo grape does not grow very well outside Piedmont. There is some cultivation in California, Australia, New Zealand, South America, South Africa and even Mexico but none of these regions has produced wine anywhere near the quality of Barolo or Barbaresco. The grape is very fussy about its soil and climate requirements and is notoriously difficult to grow successfully. The grapes ripen very late in the year and flower very early in the spring. Thus areas that have frosts in the spring or heavy rain in the autumn will be unsuitable.

Nebbiolo has been cultivated in Piedmont for centuries and probably arose in this region or in Lombardy. Pliny the Elder described a wine which may well have been made from the ebbiolo grape and there are mentions of the grape dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries.

The best Nebbiolo wine is undoubtedly Barolo. This is one of the greatest wines from Italy. It has “tar and roses” aromas with some complex overtones of violets and red fruits. The colour is quite distinctive. It is a very dark ruby but at the edge of the glass it looks brown. Barbaresco is not quite as good but it is a really first class wine. Gattinara, Ghemme and Nebbiolo d’Alba are not up to the Barolo and Barbaresco standard but are really excellent wines and are more modestly priced. These wines are best drunk relatively young (2 or 3 years) whereas Barolo and Barbaresco are usually aged in barrels and can keep in bottles for decades. Barolo can be found at £30 or more per bottle but you can have a Nebbiolo d’Alba for less than £20. Ordinary Nebbiolo wines can be found for £8-£10.

Nebbiolo wines are ideal with stews, game and roast meat.

George Leslie is our new resident Guide Writer with a wealth of experience in writing wine reviews for various UK magazines.