Anthony Gismondi: B.C. wine festival highlights Barolo

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We look ahead to the 45th Vancouver International Wine Festival and the many Italian wineries coming to Vancouver at the end of the month. It’s an excellent opportunity to improve your knowledge of Italian wine and then use it to explore the hundreds of wines poured at the festival.

Today a short course in Barolo is the topic, and you can dig as deep as you want into this famous wine or stick with the basics. It’s up to you. Few wines enjoy the luxury of having a single name attached to them, a name that describes where they come from and what they are. Still, Barolo joins a short list such as Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Brunello and Chianti to name the most famous that instantly paints a picture of a region and its wine without mentioning any other information.

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The Barolo wine must be made from the Nebbiolo grape grown on hillsides in the Langhe subregion, inside the province of Cuneo, in the Northern Italian region of Piedmont. Nebbiolo has had Limited success in other areas worldwide, but none compare with the Piedmont version.

Barolo is a wine produced in the appellation of the same name. It’s located in Northern Italy’s Piedmont region and must be made exclusively from the Nebbiolo grape variety. Nebbiolo, of course, is also grown in other countries around the world, but Barolo can only come from the Barolo DOCG — Denominazione d’Origine Controllata e Garantita — and must be produced following a strict set of rules and regulations, most notably that it be composed entirely of Nebbiolo that was grown on hillsides.

As you might expect, the Italians have demarcated the most important plots of land in Barolo, spread across 11 communes home to Barolo’s top crus over time. Monforte d’Alba, La Morra, Castiglione Falletto, and Serralunga d’Alba lead the pack, and even within those communes, there are specific plots known to be unique among all Barolos. With a start date that goes back to the 12th century, they have had plenty of time to assess which grapes grow best and where.

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Global warming has given Northern Italy more warmth, spawning a mix of sensational years, and years that would be described as atypical. However, many would enjoy the ripeness of the wines nonetheless. Working back a dozen years, six have been exceptional: 2013, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2002.

A quick look at the Piemontesi producers in the room offers plenty of choices in the tasting room. If you are getting your feet wet with Nebbiolo, start with the Langhe version, made mainly from younger vines and grapes from across the region. It is a little less intense but showcases the structure with some of the power and elegance of this unique variety.

The respected Marchesi di Barolo is pouring the 2018 Barolo Tradizione for $64.99, and white wine loves a delicious 2022 Roero Arneis for $34.99. Bosio Family Estates will run a 2021 Bel Colle Langhe Nebbiolo for $26.99, their 2018 Bel Colle Barolo Simposio for $57.99 and a 2021 Passato Roero Arneis for $26.99. Damilano, a modern superstar producer, is showing its Langhe Arneis at $29.99, a 2020 Langhe Nebbiolo Marghe at $39.99 and a 2018 Barolo Lecinquevigne at $64.99.

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Marziano Abbona 2018 Barolo, $98, and 2016 Barolo Pressenda, $130. Michele Chiarlo is bringing his 2022 Gavi di Gavi Rovereto for $38 and a 2019 Barolo Cerequio for $150. Famed Vietti has a 2022 Roero Arneis for $46.99, a 2020 Langhe Nebbiolo’ Perbacco’ for $53.99, while Santa Vittoria is offering an inexpensive selection of 20129 Langhe Nebbiolo $26.99 and a 2018 Barolo $44.99.

Filipino Domenico will offer a 2021 Langhe Nebbiolo for $39.99 and a 2022 Langhe Arneis for $31.99, while a longtime name in Vancouver, Fontanafredda, will showcase its 2021 Gavi di Gavi, $27.49, 2018 Barolo, $42.99 and the 2019 Serralunga d’Alba Barolo$49 — the latter might be the deal of the festival. You can start your homework now.

Weekend wine picks

Massimo Rivetti Langhe Arneis Aurelia 2021, Langhe, Cuneo, Piedmont, Italy

$26.99 I 90/100

UPC: 8033140252109

The colour is straw yellow, and the nose is decidedly floral with a strong mineral and wet stone note. Fresh-cut white fruits precede pear, guava, and citrus, lining a creamy palate. It is very seafood-friendly and perfect for the B.C. coastal market. The arneis grew at 500 meters above sea level on calcareous soils. It is harvested during the coolest hours of the day and with dry ice to preserve the freshness and character of the certified organic grapes. Then it is cold-soaked at 0 C and then fermented on Indigenous yeasts.

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G. D. Vajra Langhe Rosso 2020, Langhe, Cuneo, Piedmont, Italy

$30 I 91/100

UPC: 695798115328

Langhe Rosso is the stepping-stone to Barbaresco and Barolo, and an increased focus on this wine style is paying dividends across Piemonte. Its price and quality ratio is hard to beat, as exemplified by the delicious drinking Varja. It mixes younger vines from a solid vintage that speaks Piemonte, including Nebbiolo, Barbera, Dolcetto, Freesia, Albatross, and Pinot Noir. Cherries, plums, and floral rose notes with only a fraction of tannin that runs throughout a mineral, light sea salt finish — a classy wine for lunch or mid-week dinner.

Produttori del Barbaresco Langhe Nebbiolo 2021, Langhe, Cuneo, Piedmont, Italy

$33.99 I 89/100

UPC: 665529005037

The Produttori Langhe rosso is made from young vines growing across the DOC. It is fermented in stainless and aged six months in large oak. Its best asset is its aromatic nose and juicy red fruits. The acid could scare some, but with the right food, this wine is a serious player. Then, there is that dry Italian styling that makes it so attractive. Look for violets, cassis, tobacco, intense red and black cherries, and licorice with firm but round tannins. Thank you, concrete tank fermentations. I like the versatility of serving this with mushroom pizzas, soft cheeses, or meaty pasta.

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Belle Colle Barolo Simposio 2017, Piedmont, Italy

$56 I 91/100

UPC: 8032755131076

Simposio is a mix of Nebbiolo from three Barolo vineyards, and it spends three years in Slavonian oak, post ferment. The style is comfortable, as if it was designed for pleasure and consumption rather than long-term cellaring. A warm year aids in building the ripe cherry component mixed with more classic tar and spice that retains its elegance throughout a fragrant, new leather finish. What tannin exists is quickly dissipating, making it a beautiful style for midterm drinking. Try 2023.

Marcarini Barolo La Serra 2017, La Morra, Cuneo, Piedmont, Italy

$63.99 I 93/100

UPC: 726452000978

Macaroni La Serra is as elegant as it gets for Barolo, given its naturally spicy, floral, rose petal nose mixed with leather, earth, mushrooms, and strawberry. The palate is umami-like, drawing you in with its dark red fruit, licorice, and smoky leather. Round, dry, but supple with excellent finesse, it finishes with a light peppery cherry mushroom to a dry Italian finish. A long life awaits this wine, one you can serve with braised beef, game, and aged cheeses.

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B.C. wine of the week

Van Westen Vineyards Voluptuous 2020, Naramata Bench, Okanagan Valley, B.C.

$40 I 91/100

UPC: 626990066309

The 2020 Voluptuous is, in fact, all that and more. It is luxurious and what I would term the perfect Okanagan red blend at 67 per cent Merlot and 33 per cent Cabernet Franc. Both are fully ripe and concentrated on winning you with sweet fruit and silky textures, even at a young age. The 18-year-old vines are grown at Naramata’s Boothe Road Vineyard over silty clay and loam soils. Like last year, an enticing, savoury jacket is wrapped around ripe, juicy blueberry, BlackBerry, black olive, and cedar dusted in baking spice and sagebrush. The tannins are much better managed this year, and I suspect it came in fully physiologically ripe. You’ll be able to drink this now. Good value.

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Harper’s U.K. reports a recent University of Cambridge study that found removing 250 mL servings of wine by the glass cut consumption by almost eight per cent.

The study was conducted in 21 licensed premises — mainly pubs — in England to see whether removing the largest serving of wine by the glass over four weeks would impact how much wine was consumed. Cambridge University described the results as a “promising intervention for decreasing alcohol consumption across populations (which) merits consideration as part of alcohol licensing regulations.”

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There was also no evidence that it affected total daily revenues, most likely due to the higher profit margins of smaller wine serving sizes. Dr. Eleni Mantzari, from the University of Cambridge, said: “It looks like when the largest serving size of wine by the glass was unavailable, people shifted toward the smaller options but didn’t then drink the equivalent amount of wine.” People tend to consume a specific number of units — in this case, glasses — regardless of portion size.

What goes around comes around. When I started writing about and reviewing wine, there were few options to read about wine. Most wine stories were short anecdotes appended to food columns or travel pieces. After four decades of writing, wine is just about back where it started as a quick couple of lines stuck at the end of a travel piece or a food story where the writer mentions the wine that was paired with a meal or discovered on their journey. Large and small producers have failed the institutions supporting them either by failing to buy advertisements that would justify the space or, at the very least, amplifying the coverage they received thus promoting the magazine or newspaper at no cost to them.

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