Guide to the Wines of Barolo
Barolo is named after its appellation in Piemonte, Italy rather than its grape, Nebbiolo.
Although Barolo is light in color, it's also full flavoured - rather than full bodied necessarily - and is the closest we have to Burgundy’s unique coming together of biology, geography and culture. These are wines to revere and get excited about. Barolo smells almost floral and heady when young and more like aged leather when aged, with fine examples evoking roses, licorice, mushrooms, and even truffles which are snuffled out locally.
In general, Barolo is more expensive than some of the other Italian wines because the reverence in which they’re held, the winemaking and aging process and the value of land in this part of prosperous northern Italy.
Barolo needs age so anything under 3 years if fugazi ie not Barolo, and ideally should be held back for a special time after at least 5-15 years bottle age. This shit is serious.
WHY YOU LIKE BAROLO
• You like fine things, like truffles, Swiss watches, leather goods, and original not re-released underlined, Frank Zappa albums
• You taste good
IF YOU LIKE IT, YOU SHOULD ALSO TRY
• Red Burgundy
• Brunello di Montalcino
• Barbaresco
• Etna Rosso
• Gattinara
• Valtellina
WANT MORE?
Check out our Italy country guide, or our article on the most common wine varieties.