Personal Blog

Barolo, a wine generally pale ruby red in colour, hailing from Piedmont region in Northwest Italy, is often referred to as the ‘King of Wines’. These wines are characterized by their powerful, full bodies, the aromas of tar, violets and roses (amongst many others) and by their often rough, tannic structure. Barolo must be made 100% from the Nebbiolo grape, and achieved the Italian quality assurance rating of DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) in 1980. Barolo cannot be classified as Barolo until it has aged for three years at the winery, or for five years if it is called Riserva. In recent years producers of Barolo have had to implement many changes in the production of their wines which have enabled them to become more accessible to the general public who’s tastes were changing towards younger, fruitier wines that were ready to drink the day of purchase. They began this transformation by allowing the wine to mature in smaller, French oak barrels rather than leaving them in very large, old, Slovenian wooden casks called botti for many years, this was thought to minimize the risk of oxygenation and also offset the harsh tannins typical of Nebbiolo with the flavour of vanilla from the oak. The introduction of temperature controlled fermentation in the 1980’s made the wines a lot more fruit driven, in addition it became commonplace for producers to take the juice and pump it over the grape skins in order to maximize the deep colour and yet reduce the level of harsh tannins, this was in contrast to the previous method, in which the wines were fermented while still in contact with the skins.  Read more...