I'm lucky to have the excellent Bottle Apostle very near me in London - really landed on my feet when we moved to Hackney! I'm always game for an opportunity to taste wines I probably couldn't justify buying, so a grand tour of Nebbiolo, the grape that gives us Barbaresco and Barolo from Piedmont in North-West Italy, seemed a good opportunity. There were a few wines here you'd really like to get to know properly over a lazy evening and mountains of slow cooked beef. There were also a couple of really interesting wines from the Adelaide Hills.
Produttori del Barbareco Langhe Nebbiolo 2009
I've drunk this before, from the 2006 vintage, and really enjoyed it. It's from a really high-end Co-Op that has been making serious wine in the region since the 1950s. Langhe Nebbiolo is the 'baby' of the range, and comes from younger vines or plots that haven't quite made the full Barbaresco grade. It's very floral and fresh on the nose, with strawberry and pomegranate sweetness, liqourice and lingering bitter herbs.The palate is fresh and taut, slightly herbaceous again and finishing with pushy tannin. Lean but characterful. £19.80
Massimo Rivetti Barbaresco Frio 2004
Slightly plusher black cherry fruit and a little vanilla sweetness here, with tobacco and tarry complexity and some savoury notes of leather and hay. The palate is gently drying with savoury spice, with touches of mint and florality on the finish. There's fair intensity here. Good. £31.50
Barolo Codane 2006 Michele Reverdito
From La Morra. There is immediately some headier clove and cumin spice on the nose, rich black cherry fruit and even a touch of caramel coming through. Lovely richness and focus on the palate, with flavours of liqourice and pomegranate molasses. The finish is long with floral and leathery notes. Really good, though at 14.5% there's a question in my notes over alcohol balance - perhaps it's poking through a little? It's young, though - some of the more obvious oak-derived aromas and angular sides to the palate will settle out and this will be delicious in 5 years+. Good value at £27.50
Barolo Ceretta 2005 Ettore Germano
From Serralunga. Less obvious oak is in evidence here than in the Reverdito. Real aromatic complexity, with rose and mint accompanying the black cherry and plumskin fruit. The palate is quite open with nimble acidity, clean blackberry fruit and a streak of nutty savour (a hint of a slightly more oxidative winemaking style that I like here). There's a very fine wash of tannin and a complex finish. Elegance and depth. £57
Barolo Riserva 1982 Giacomo Borgogno
What's immediate here is how recognisable this wine is from the previous wines, even though it's more than 20 years older than any of them. Fragrant stawberry and pomegranate fruit emerge on the nose, with a little dried fig and warmth from clove and allspice. The palate is certainly mellower than the previous wines, the primary fruit having been replaced by more fleeting flavours that reminded me of roasted tomatoes and dried ham. There's a gentle sweetness and delicacy to the palate, though the tannic structure is certainly still holding it together. I suspect that if you spent an evening with this wine it would reveal a lot more. A treat.
Barolo Pressenda Riserva 1999 Marziano Abbona
From Serralunga. Deep aromas of ripe black cherry, black treacle (or even that famous tar) and vanilla here. It's serious, concentrated and punchy with a massive palate displaying profundity of black fruit, asphalt and dried herbs. Big and beautiful - leave if alone for a while! £88
Visages de Canaille Brut Metodo Classico Rosé Non Vintage, Baricchi
Well this was a first. A champagne-method pink fizz from Nebbiolo, made by the saignée method of taking a little colour from the skins during pressing. Some older reserve wines go into the blend too, though this is based on the 2004 vintage. This is a crazy mixture of light strawberry fruit and bitter medicinal herbs with creamy, nutty notes from lees ageing and autolysis. Strawberry jam on buttered toast after a spoonful of Calpol maybe? Sounds terrible, but I really quite like it, with its light tannic grip. Would serve a similar purpose to a good Lambrusco - a food wine for cold meats.
Shobbrook Didi Novello Nebbiolo 2010 Adelaide Hills
Fascinating stuff from this natural winery. Reallly bright, candied strawberry and rhubarb fruit with basil and mint leaping out here. There's a quite un-Piedmont freshness and sweetness to the fruit concentration on the palate that I like - it has the lip-smacking tannin, but it's juicy and fun. It's almost a rosé, and is made from the same fruit as the winery's rosé, with longer skin contact. Seriously fun.
Duncan Macgillivray Black Crow Nebbiolo 2004 Adelaide Hills
This was a bit of an unknown quantity to everyone in the room, including Tom from the Bottle Apostle, who pulled it from his cellar as I remember. With tobacco, strawberry jam and medicinal herbs on the nose it's certainly varietally true, with lovely acidity and some concentration on the palate. Barbaresco-like style, and with some real character - just not quite the elegance of some of the Italians here. I liked it more than most here, and I think that if we'd have tasted it blind it may have slipped under many people's radars...
All in all the wines really showed what a robust varietal character Nebbiolo has, and how this comes through no matter the winemaking style, from new oak and extraction to méthode champenoise! For wines to buy now, I think the Ceretta and the Abbona were the two wines of the night, although they are at different ends of the spectrum style-wise. I'd be drinking the Ceretta first, though. The Borgogno, if you can find/afford it, is one that you know will reward a slow, lazy evening with a proper glass (not a stemless one - not a big fan I'm afraid B.A.!). The Reverdito is good value if you have somewhere to keep it for a few years. And the sparkler...one to baffle some wine buff friends with.
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