Nebbiolo’s tannins no longer ‘the enemy’

Nebbiolo’s high tannins and light colour are no longer “the enemy” as Barolo producers increasingly accept the inherent traits of their sole red grape, according to Pio Cesare’s winemaker, Pio Boffa.

The Nebbiolo grape is renowned for producing wines with a light colour and high tannins

Boffa made the comment in London yesterday at a tasting organised by Maisons Marques et Domaines entitled “The Three Kings of Italy”.

Having showed his wines alongside those from Brunello’s Castiglion del Bosco and Amarone’s Tommasi, Boffa said that Barolo had been through “lots of changes in the last 30 years.”

In particular, he recorded a strong focus on cellar techniques to soften Nebbiolo’s high tannins, as well as deepen its light colour.

“We have gone crazy in the past making exaggerated changes, for example, using roto-fermenters, or warm and cold fermentations, all to make Nebbiolo without harsh tannin or a light colour,” he commented.

However, he then stated, “But these two elements are not the enemy any more; they are elements we would like to meet again and know a bit more and now we are coming back to them a bit more in our wines.”

He also said that the greatest changes in Barolo concerned developments in viticulture. “The most and the best changes have been in the vineyards, and now the Nebbiolo clones are more healthy and better selected, and more reliable, than years ago.”

As well as advancements in clonal selection, Boffa said that Barolo producers were returning to higher yields for their wines.

“We have now learnt that it is not important to be drastic in lowering yields, because if you do, it will stress the vine, and that is not good for the wine.”

Summing up, he said that the common theme for Italy’s top wines were “grapes with a very strong personality”, suggesting that it was unwise for winemakers to try and overcome the inherent characters of the country’s flagship varieties.