Marchesi di Barolo Barbaresco DOCG della Tradizione
Piemontese wines are among my favorites. I’m currently reading Barolo and Barbaresco: The King and Queen of Italian Wine by Kerin O’Keefe. It’s really fascinating look at the history and current state of wine making in the Langhe’s famous Barolo and Barbaresco DOCGs. She also includes tasting notes for many wines which simultaneously makes me salivate and envious. Of course I couldn’t resist opening the one Barbaresco I have; the Marchesi di Barolo Barbaresco della Tradizione 2013.
While I would love to get my hands on some of the wines she described I suspect that the limitations of my pocketbook would make it prohibitive even more than Turkey’s limited importing. Luckily there are always duty free shops.
Marchesi di Barolo
Marchesi di Barolo is one of the most widely known names in the Piemonte wine world. And little wonder as it is with the Falletti family that wines from the region first gained prominence. As the story goes, in 1807 he Marquis of Barolo Carlo Tancredi Falletti married Juliette Colbert de Maulévrier. It was she who realized the potential of the wines made from the Nebbiolo grape in the town of Barolo for which the DOCG is named.
However Barolo fame is not solely the work of the Falletti family. They share the honor with the Abbona family, which as it happens now owns the Agenzia Tenuta Opera Pia Barolo: the ancient cellars of vinification and refinement of the Marchesi di Barolo estate. Around the same time as the Fallettis, Pietro Abbona and his siblings had their own wines cellars. He is the undisputed patriarch of Barolo. According to Massimo Martinelli, in his book Barolo As I Know It, “It was from his [Abbona’s] winery that Barolo made its first historic steps. His large wood casks (some of which one can still be admired today in the cellars in Barolo) were in fact part of the legacy of the Marquise Falletti.”
As it is still the Abbona family who own and operate the vineyards I guess it’s them I have to thank for this Barbaresco della Tradizione 2013 that I enjoyed ever so much.
For me the magic of Barolos and Barbarescos comes from not only the powerful Nebbiolo grape but from the complicated wine making and ageing process. This Barbaresco della Tradizione macerated for eight days before being transferred to a cork-lined cement vat for malolactic fermentation. It is then transferred to Slavonian and French oak casks where it will spend a year gaining refinement. And they’re not done yet. The wine is removed from the oak casks and blended in a large classic barrel, made of Slavonian oak for additional ageing. After bottling the wine undergoes yet more ageing before being released to the market; a full three years after harvest.
So while on the surface it seems that the Barbaresco della Tradizione 2013, which I drank in 2017 has had some time mature it’s actually pretty young. I don’t store wines and wait for them to reach their perfect maturity (three to 20 years after release in this case). Partially because patience is a virtue of which I am not possessed. But largely because my life in Turkey is so fluid I never know when I’ll be leaving (or get kicked out). After going to so much trouble to get wine into the country I fear having to get it back out! So did I drink this while it was too young? Yeah a bit. Did it still taste absolutely amazing? You bet.
Marchesi di Barolo Barbaresco DOCG della Tradizione 2013 Tasting Notes:
Garnet with a slight browning around the rim in the glass. While I didn’t have the patience to allow it to reach maturity I did at least have enough to decant it for about 90 minutes. I am very glad I did. While the nose was initially rather tight the breathing time allowed it to open and become so many things. Pronounced fruit (strawberries), fruitcake, baking spices, carob, and floral. Firm tannins with somewhat racy acidity. Again fruit and floral notes on the palate but with an earthy depth that lingered on the long finish.
A really beautiful reminder of why I love Italian wine and those from Piemonte most of all.