Barolo

Barolo (Barolo) – red wine by the name of a city and commune in Northern Italy in the Piedmont region.

Grape variety: Nebbiolo 100%

It should be noted that Barolo is the first Italian wine to receive the prestigious DOCG status.

Wine market dictates the rules. In style of early-ripening full-bodied fruity wine, which is in demand. And if there is a demand, there must be an offer. In the pursuit of profit modern manufacturers are trying with the help of technological methods to produce this wine.

Consumers are not ready to wait for years and decades until the wine will be at the peak of ripeness. As well as a good Barolo is traditionally supposed to Mature in the bottle for decades, many winemakers aspire to create wines to please the consumer, using commercially successful brand of Barolo.

How do Barolo

Between the classical production technology and modern Barolo is a huge gap. For traditionalists postfermentation characterized by long maceration, when the wine is saturated with tannins, anthocyanins, phenols and other compounds which are known in red wines. Also, practiced long aging in large oak barrels (typically used Slavonian oak) to soften hard aggressive tannins, which are the result of long maceration.

By law, Barolo wines must be aged at least two years in oak barrels and another year in bottles, but in this case, the wine made by the traditional producers will not have time to soften its harsh tannins. Therefore the long aging in barrels is more a necessity than a whim. In addition, prolonged aging in barrels, the wine may be over-oxidized. Manufacturers it is unprofitable and they began to look for a new formula of successful Barolo.

In the 1980s a group of enthusiasts perfected the process of production of Barolo. Using techniques they have created a wine with a fruity dominant, which was loved by the ordinary consumer. Modernists used less maceration time (and consequently, less extraction of tannin), fermented at low temperature (as a result, wine is dominated by fruity aromas), aging in small French barrels – barriques (the faster the tannins are ripe, it becomes soft and non-aggressive), the high temperature of the cellar at the end of fermentation (this causes lactic acid fermentation to reduce the acidity of the wine). In addition, there are suspicions that some manufacturers add a certain amount of thick-skinned grapes (such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot) for deeper color. The result of early-ripening fruit wines with a deep color that are so loved by consumers.

The traditionalists condemn such an approach to the production of Barolo. They claim that the fragrance of vanilla from the French barrels scored aromas characteristic of the terroir and grape varieties.

In any case, from this confrontation only benefit consumers – among the huge variety of producers and wines anyone can pick up a wine to taste.

And remember that Italy is a very diverse country and if, having tasted one wine, you are disappointed, try again.