Barolo: The “King of Wines” is still Italy’s Greatest Wine!

Writing these articles about both well-known and somewhat obscure Italian wines has been fun. Now, however, it is time to shift it into high gear and discuss perhaps Italy’s greatest wine - Barolo. If there were a competition for the best wine in the world, and each country got one entry, my pick for Italy would be to enter a Barolo. Preferably, an aged Barolo, from a great vintage, made by a traditional producer. I would be comfortable matching these wines up against the best from Bordeaux, Burgundy, Napa or anywhere else in the world. Starting with this article and over the next few articles, the wines of Barolo will be examined including the traditional versus modern debate among producers and the vineyards themselves.

In the Northwest corner of Italy lays the Italian region of Piemonte. Piedi means foot and montania means mountains. In English this translates to Piedmont. Either way, this region sits in the foothills of the Alps. It shares its border with France to the west, the region of Valle D’Aosta (which was part of Piemonte until 1945) to the northwest and Switzerland to the north. To the south the thin strip of the region Liguria separates Piemonte from the gulf of Genoa and the Mediterranean. The capital of Piemonte is the city of Turin. Like most of Italy, this was a part of the Roman Empire. After the fall of Rome, this land was ruled by the various city-states most notably the French influenced Savoy’s. The French, under Napoleon, occupied this land during the early 19th century. After returning to local control, Piemonte was a leader in the unification movement of Italy in the mid 1800’s. In fact, after unification, Turin served as the first capital of Italy in 1861.

Winters are cold and there is frequently a heavy snowfall. Summers are hot with little rainfall. A fog habitually covers the vineyards in the fall, which allows the grapes to hang for a long time on the vine as the cool mists slow the final ripening stages of the grapes. In an area known as the Langhe (foothills), is the DOCG of Barolo. This is wine country with the annual production of Barolo exceeding half a million cases from 3,100 acres planted to vine.