How Piemonte Wines Are Made

Video Transcript

"Hi! I am Mark Middlebrook and I am here in the Paul Marcus Wines Cantina. And, in this segment I am going to talk about the different kinds of barrels that are used to age Piemonteze wines, wines from the Piemonte region of Italy. In particular, Nebbiolo, the grape variety that makes the most important, most ageable, most elegant wines. I have three examples here of Nebbiolo. A Langhe Nebbiolo from Cascina Ca Rosa in the Ruero. A Barbaresco from Produttori del Barbaresco, a wonderful co-op that makes wines from grapes from different growers. And, Mauro Veglio's Barolo from the village of La Mora. So, all these are made of the grape variety of Nebbiolo. But, they are aged in very different ways. The Ca Rosa Langhe Nebbiolo is aged entirely in stainless steel tanks and it is designed as wine to be drunk relatively young. It has got fresher, fruitier flavors to go with that great floral aromatics of Nebbiolo. But, not a wine you would age for a long, long time. It is a great picnic wine. Lunch. Easier sort of dinner type of thing and priced to match. This is going to be, you know, should be under twenty dollars retail. The Barbaresco is made in a very traditional style. Instead of stainless steel tanks, the wine is aged in fairly large barrels, oak barrels that are called bote in Italy. And, these are the traditional style barrels that have been used for hundreds of years in Piemonte. So, because the barrels are quite large, there is not a lot of contact of, you know, a large portion of the wine does not come into contact with the wood at any given moment. So, you do not get overtly oaky flavors. There also typically these barrels are older. So, they do affect the aging of the process of the wine and impart some oxygen to it. But, they are relatively neutral as oak barrels go. The Mauro Veglio, on the other hand, part of, at least part of this wine is aged in what are called barriques. It is the French word and the Italians use it too, for a small barrel. The kind you would see if you go on a winery visit in Napa Valley or in Bordeaux in France. Somewhere like that. These are, you know, anywhere from a fifth to a tenth of the size of the bote, the barrels that this wine is aged in. So, you get a little more influence of the oak itself. In addition, they often, a producer that will use barrique will tend to use newer barrels. Not in all the wine but they will put some of the wine in a new barrel, some in barrels that are one or two years old, some maybe three years old. And, blend to get the profile of the wine that they want. In terms again, fresh and fruity is what you tend to get with stainless steel aging. Spicier, more earthy flavors with the larger oak, the bote aging in this kind of wine. And, with barriques, you tend to get a little more, a little more fruit concentration, a little more what I call glossy flavors. Not necessarily overt oakiness. That depends on the age of the barrels. But, a little more kind of intense fruit to the wine. All three are really pleasurable to drink depending on the occasion, what you want to spend. This is around thirty dollars retail, thirty five maybe. This is closer to fifty or fifty five dollars retail here in the U.S. I love drinking them all. I drink this on many occasions. These are, to me, more special occasion wines and both of them are really pleasurable things to have on a table."