Ricossa makes this from Nebbiolo grown on the hills of the Langhe, in Piedmont, and 2018 was a vintage that gave the grape a long, even ripening. Barolo DOCG is the strictest corner of that region: the wine must be pure Nebbiolo, and it must spend a minimum of thirty-eight months ageing before it can carry the name, of which at least eighteen are in wood.
- Nebbiolo, the only grape permitted in Barolo.
- Barolo DOCG, Piedmont, northern Italy.
- 2018 vintage, 14.5% alcohol.
- Dry, full body, high tannin, high acidity.
- Rose petal, tar, red cherry, dried herbs.
How it is made
Nebbiolo is a thin-skinned, late-ripening grape, and it holds its acidity even when it reaches full sugar. That combination is why Barolo can taste hard and closed in its youth and then turn perfumed and savoury with time. The appellation's rules are built around that: a long minimum ageing, most of it in wood, before the wine is allowed out.
How it tastes
The nose is classic Nebbiolo, rose petal and tar first, then red cherry and a dried herb note underneath. On the palate it is dry and full, with firm, grippy tannins and the high acidity that keeps the whole thing taut rather than heavy. The fruit sits behind the structure rather than in front of it.
Where it comes from
The Langhe hills around the town of Barolo, in Piedmont, south of the Tanaro river. Nebbiolo is grown almost nowhere else with the same results, and the vineyards here are the reason the grape is treated as one of Italy's two great red varieties.
Good to know
Barolo has been called the wine of kings since the House of Savoy took it up in the nineteenth century. The name Nebbiolo comes from nebbia, the fog that settles over the Langhe at harvest, when the grapes are picked.
