Barolo

Barolo is a dry red wine from the Cuneo province in the Piedmont region. Together with Brunello di Montalcino and Amarone della Valpolicella Barolo is one of the most well known wines from Italy.

Unlike the light color of older Barolos might suggest (older Barolos are pretty transparent and have a hue between light red and orange) a Barolo is a heavy wine with a strong full bodied taste. The Nebbiolo grape from which the Barolo wine is made (100% pure) contains a lot of heavy tannins. Heavy tannins produce an acid taste that is too much for most people and because of this Barolo wines need to age quite some years to break down the strong tannins and soften up. But even after years of ageing most Barolos still keep a bit of these tannins which results in a characteristic bite.

In combination with the many flavors that can be found in a nice Barolo like violets, tar, licorice, chocolate, white truffle, cinnamon, dried fruit, mint, fresh and dried herbs, Plum, forest fruit and tobacco, the tannins can really produce a surprising taste explosion.

Barolo has the DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) status, the highest in Italy.