Winemaker Notes
Pairs well with pizza, pastas with simple sauces, sausage, ham, charcuteire and spicy dishes.
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Langhe Nebbiolo was bottled last September and is almost sold out at this point. The next vintage, 2017, will be bottled this upcoming September. Because Produttori del Barbaresco makes its Langhe Nebbiolo with declassified Barbaresco fruit, you see less of this wine in the good vintages and more of the wine in the difficult years (in which not all fruit meets the higher Barbaresco standards and is better sold at the more affordable Langhe Nebbiolo price tag instead). For example, 80,000 bottles were produced in 2016 compared to 120,000 in 2014. That said, Langhe Nebbiolo is quickly becoming its own wine with its own distinct identity and consumer. This is an elegant and silky expression with long flavors of dark fruit, tar, smoke and toasted clove. Best of all: it is a terrific value buy. Too bad not much is left.
Rating: 91+
Attracting the most glory, prestige and fame to the Piedmont region, Nebbiolo in all of its expressions—Barolo, Barbaresco, Roero, Ghemme and Gattinara—creates a complex wine, truly unique for its delicate qualities combined with strength and a great potential to improve over time.
But Nebbiolo isn’t all there is to red wine from Piedmont! Barbera is the most planted variety and historically most popular as a dependable, food-friendly, everyday wine.
Beyond these two, a surprising number of red varieties call Piedmont their home. Worth a try include Dolcetto for its bold concentration and aromas of spice cake. Other grapes to investigate include Freisa, Croatina, Brachetto, Grignolino and Pelaverga.