Wines don’t have to be super expensive to be good quality or taste good. These wines are some of my favorites. If you try them feel free to tell me about your experience! Enjoy!
Andrea Oberto and his wines
Remember the Barolo Night I had in Sweden? This weekend was Barolo Night 2.0 Oslo edition! Oh man did we drink some good wines. The layout of these Barolo Weekends are starting to form, and so on Friday we eat pizza and drink Pizza Wines. Check out these amazing Pizza Wines in the picture below.
Represented in the first night were some amazing producers: Rinaldi, Alessandro Veglio, Vietti, Bartolo Mascarello and Azelia. And we hit all the typical Piemonte/Barolo categories: Dolcetto, Barbera, Langhe Nebbiolo and Barolo.
Saturday is the big wine tasting night, with blind tasting and tasting sheets. This time it was 9 wines and 4 people – maybe a tad much but we went with it. We do 3 and 3 wines at a time, taking time to smell and taste and discuss before we reveal. And once we are through all the wines, we just drink and enjoy.
Below are the wines of Barolo Night 2.0. More detailed description and tasting notes will follow, but for now just enjoy the view!
Margheria is located in Serralunga d’Alba. It has south exposure and a clayey soil. Azelia’s vines are aged about 50 years and the grapes are put in large casks (not small botti) after harvest. All of these excellent traits and make for a very good wine. You can check out Azelia’s wines on their website.
Wine: Barolo Margheria
Producer: Azelia
Region/Appellation: Piemonte, Italy
Grape varieties: Nebbiolo
Vintage: 2004
Eye: deep garnet color
Nose: black fruits, licorice, earthy tones, mineral
Mouth: fruity, mineral, good structure,
Price Point: $60
Available at Vinmonopolet: yes
Available at Systembolaget: yes
This Christmas, I experienced Bottle Variance for the first time. It was the strangest thing. We opened 2 Azelia Barolo Margheria 2004, but they tasted like two completely different wines. Both were good: there was nothing wrong with either of the wines, but when we were blind tasting, no one guessed they were the same wine, or even the same vintage.
Now, this can happen to any wine maker, any wine at any time. Remember, these are products of nature, so there is very little control over the end products. There is also the topic of storage: were they stored at the same place, at the same temperature? The corks, are they the same? Wine makers tend to experiment with different corks, which then could make the bottles act differently. There are so many factors that can affect the wine, which is why bottle variance occurs.
Nonetheless, Azelia makes amazing wines and both these wines were incredible! If you want to know more about Azelia, you can check out their website.
There are quite a few wines available at Vinmonopolet, but you can find some great wines at reasonable prices. (Although that’s not always the case). In any event, I have listed some wines that I think highly of and that as of now are available. However, bear in mind that most of these wines have to be ordered, as in they are not usually in the stores.
Trediberri Barbera d’Alba , 170kr
Andrea Oberto Dolcetto d’Alba , 169kr
Azelia Dolcetto d’Alba Bricco dell’Oriolo , 189kr
Alessandro Veglio Dolcetto d’Alba , 194kr
Trediberri Langhe Nebbiolo , 185kr
Burlotto Langhe Nebbiolo , 145kr
I do! Before the winery became a winery, it was a farm. And on this farm were all kinds of animals, including peacocks. And they really liked the idea of bringing some of the past history along when they started making wine.
Vitello Tonnato at Osteria Vignaiolo
Visit at Azelia
View from the top of La Morra
Enjoying the weather by Rocche dell’Annunziata
Lorenzo is telling us about his wines
At the bottom of the hill of Castiglione Faletto (almost in La Morra) you’ll find Azelia. The winery started producing wine in 1920 and has gradually grown into the winery it is today. Lorenzo and his father Luigi run the winery today, already the 5th generation of winemakers of Azelia.
As most of the wineries I write about, Azelia takes excellent care of the grapes in the vineyard with green harvest and no pesticides. And in the cellar they try to keep traditions in addition to using more modern techniques. The result is the lineup you see in the picture below!
From Dolcetto to riserva, they go throught the spectrum. With 3 cru barolo and a riserva they represent a great selection of the barolo cru’s with Bricco Fiasco, Margheria and San Rocco. Check out their website for more information
Ok. I am not sure where to start. This may be the most insane wine event I have ever attended. There is just miles and miles of wine. I spent 5 hours there and I didn’t even get to see all the wineries in the Piemonte hall that I wanted to see. For the first 30 minutes I just wandered around, trying to get a lay of the land. If I go another time I will definitely do some more research and plan ahead. I would also like to stay more then 1 day, as 1 day is definitely not enough. Below are a few (of the many) pictures I snapped of the day.
The Massolino Stand
Brezza’s cute “house” like tasting stand
Lorenzo and Beatrice at the Azelia table
This gallery contains 8 photos.
PIEMONTEGIRL 