Wine Folly has a great color chart with an overview of the main wine colors, as you can see below. It is very common to describe a wine using color, and wine people have their own terminology, like pale amber or deep ruby. This chart also mentions the types of wine usually tied to the different colors: Nebbiolo is usually described as pale garnet and Chardonnay as deep gold.
Anyway, enjoy!
So, I am organizing a wine class (on Piemonte/Barolo) for some friends and guess who will be the teacher? That’s right, it’s me! Now, I know a thing or two about wine but I have never taught what resembles a class so I am asking your advice: How do I do it?
Here are some of my ideas:
I will also probably have some maps and a book to explain.
What do you guys think?
I mostly drink Barolo (or dolcetto, barbera, nebbiolo). I rarely find myself drinking Barolo Chinato, but if I had to drink one it would be the one that Nadia Curto makes. The way it works is that everyone who makes chinato has their own sort of recipe, so they can taste very different from one another. You can argue that the same is said for barolo, but the difference is that they sometimes add spices to the chinato. Back in the days it was made as a sort of medicine, which in my opinion it kind of tastes like today… But then again, who doesn’t want barolo as medicine?
Nadia Curto also makes great wines; it’s not just her Chinato that is worth trying. Tastings with Nadia are super fun so you should definitely stop by! Check out her winery on her website.
I am not sure you noticed, but I have a brand new page called “Testimonials” where some cool people have said some nice things about me.
“Piemonte Girl is the best. Naturally approachable and sincere, her love and enthusiasm for wine and the Piemonte region really shines through. On top of that, she has the real life experience and knowledge to back it up. She’s one of my go-to resources on all things Piemonte.” -Kelly from Tennessee
“Piemonte Girl really knows and loves the Langhe. She’s been a great resource for me in suggesting wineries to visit, including some smaller ones not on my radar screen. Follow her blog!” – Joe from New York
If you feel like saying something nice about me, or have anything to add, feel free to contact me!
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
I was fortunate enough to be able to attend Alessandro Veglio’s winemakers dinner in Oslo last week. The dinner was hosted at Kulinarisk Akademi at Mathallen, a very nice location in the city of Oslo. As you can see we were seated right by the open kitchen which gave us the unique possibility to see the preparation of the food by the incredible chef Marius (also pictured below),
We were served a multitude of dishes: pasta, risotto, cod, lamb, ragu and dessert. All very good and served beautifully. And the food of course went very well with the wine. Alessandro had brought his dolcetto, barbera, lanhe nebbiolo, barolo classico (2012 and 2009) and the Gattera. I think the Gattera was the favorite of the night, although for me of course way too young. I really enjoyed his Langhe Nebbiolo (as always)!
I have to give a shout out to the wonderful team at Winning Brands, Alessandro’s importer, for organizing such a great event. And of course Kulinarisk Akademi for hosting us. I also have to mention that you can sign up for many cool classes at Kulinarisk Akademi, both wine and food courses. You can check them out here.
Although I never had the chance to meet him, I know for sure that the wine world has lost a true legend. It has been a pleasure reading what people had to say about him, and I am sorry I never had the chance to experience it first hand.
Antonio Galloni calls him the “Maestro of Nebbiolo” in his article on Vinous. James Suckling recounts the story when Giacosa refuses to bottle his 2006 Barolo and when asked the reason he says “Because I don’t like it”.
Giacosa was, like Elio Altare, an early adopter of French barrels and single crus. A truly historical figure in the hills of Langhe, Giacosa leaves behind a great legacy and a fantastic winery.
Bruno Giacosa, tucked away in Neive, is a producer that is appearing more and more frequently at Piemontegirl’s table. I tend to stay within the borders of Barolo, but sometimes it’s nice to venture outside into Barbaresco (hehe). Bruno Giacosa makes 15 different bottles of wine, including a few bottles in Barolo. You see, he has two wineries: one in Barolo and one in Barbaresco. You can check him out here.
Wine: Langhe Nebbiolo
Producer: Bruno Giacosa
Region/Appellation: Piemonte, Italy
Grape varieties: Nebbiolo
Vintage: 2015
Eye: garnet red
Nose: floral
Mouth: dry, good tannins
Price Point: $24
Available at Vinmonopolet: no
Available at Systembolaget: no
Not sure if you noticed, but Trediberri has become a favorite producer of mine. The wines are good, of course, but it’s the people that make it so great! I have written about Trediberri before, you can read about the winery here. But what I maybe didn’t mention is that they are one of a few winemakers that have a piece of land in a very cool cru. Do you know which cru it is?
If you guessed Rocche dell’annunizata then you are correct. Not many winemakers have a spot in this fantastic cru, and Trediberri is one of those winemakers! Have you tried it? You can read about the wines on their website.
6 people, 10 barolo, 1 night: does it get any better? (Yes I know one of them is technically a Barbaresco, but it’s not my fault someone cheated!) The deal was: bring one (or three) bottles of barolo and we’ll taste them blind. So, blindtasting gallore!
The bottles were a little too cold when we started, which made it even harder to taste and try to differentiate and eventually guess the wines. But we had some good conversations around all the wines, and after they warmed up and opened up they were all pretty much incredible.
The way we did it was: 3 bottles at a time, random order. To help us remember which was which I brought my Wine Glass Writer along. Genius way to assist during a blind taste. I also sometimes use them for seating arrangements at dinner parties. You just write the guests names on the glasses instead of on a card. Safe to say I use mine all the time!
Man surprises during the night. What was difficult was that some of the older bottles outshone the younger ones, even though the younger ones were also very good. Example: 2013 Alessandro Veglio is a very good wine, but for me too young and therefore the 2009 Barbaresco and 2010 Enzoboglietti came out a little stronger. I had also set my mind on the Marengo (without label) and so any wines after that were sort of put in second place.
Top 3 wines of the night: Aurelio Settimo Rocche dell’Annunziata 2009, Marengo Unknown Barolo and 2005 Renato Corino Vecchie Vigne. Outstanding. Looking forward to the next Barolo Night!
PIEMONTEGIRL 