Vietti 2006 Barolo Castiglione

Well wine-lovers, we have arrived at the last leg of our journey through my four most beloved grape varieties.  Oddly, I have found telling you why I love these grapes a bit like telling someone why I love my kids more than someone else's.  It's one of those things you can't quite put your finger on...but I do because they are a part of me, I understand them, and I simply love everything about them.  To me they are perfect.  So it is with the three grapes we have explored so far, and so it is with our last grape - Nebbiolo.  It is a grape that just suits me in every way.  Just as my whites, Riesling and Chenin Blanc resemble each other in character yet each have their individuality, Nebbiolo has much in common with my other red, Pinot Noir.  Both grapes are rather finicky and extremely sensitive to soil and climate, both budding early and thus susceptible to spring frosts.  Like Pinot Noir, Nebbiolo can display some of the most haunting, complex, tantalizing perfumes, displaying a range of aromas from roses and violets, to forest floor, tea leaf to wood smoke, truffles to tar, incense, and the list goes on.  At it's best, Nebbiolo, like Pinot noir, also develops powerful yet sophisticated tannins and good acidity, giving it the ability to age long and gracefully, and making it one of the most perfect food wines.  

The wine we will be tasting today is from Barolo, Nebbiolo's traditional and most celebrated home in Italy's Piemonte.  It comes from Vietti, one of Piemonte's largest, oldest and most traditional producers.  This is a Barolo that leans toward a more delicate traditional style, being aged in large casks rather than new oak barrels.  Luca Currado, who runs the family owned estate today,  considers himself first and foremost a farmer, and is very particular about how his grapes are grown in order to produce the most characterful expression of terrior.  As part of this emphasis on the vineyard Currado eschews the use of chemicals, and has begun a move toward organic and biodynamic methods.  Join me now as I taste what I hope will be a beautiful wine from the last of my four favorite varieties - Nebbiolo.