Nebbiolo is arguably Italy's most noble grape variety and in this session will be tasting eight fantastic expressions from across its native home, Italy and also new styles from our very own backyard, Australia. 

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Nebbiolo

Found in the majestic wines of Barolo and Barbaresco, Nebbiolo is a black grape variety with high acidity and robust tannins, and it's these elements that gives it's wines magnificent ageing potential, meaning they can stand up against the very best wines in the world.

 

Nebbiolo's characteristics can vary as much as Pinot Noir and Sangiovese in its sensitivity to place. Today Nebbiolo has been shown to produce extremely fine wines, and is an altogether nobler wine than has been shown in the past. It’s capable of producing easy drinking reds, as well as great age worthy and complex wines which may or may not be blended with different local varieties. It can range in flavour spectrum somewhere between mulberries, prunes, spice, tobacco, sometimes leather and chestnuts and it tends to be savoury rather than sweet, and if not fully ripe can smell distinctly farmyard-like. It improves with age to become an elegant and distinctive red wine, but it tests everyone’s patience along the way. 

With Australia having such a large Italian immigrant population it’s hardly surprising that there are efforts to grow what is considered one of the best Italian grapes. So far this has been achieved with some excellent, and not so excellent results. Nebbiolo is not commonly planted as it is fussy, needing very precise climatic conditions, a lot of love, and more than a little luck to produce good wine. It flowers early and fruits late, meaning the growing season is longer meaning more chances for  something to go wrong. It is thin skinned making it especially susceptible to fungal disease and hail damage. There is no doubt Nebbiolo production is a labour of love that only the most dedicated attempt to grow.