Barolo ( , , ; ) is a red (DOCG) wine produced in the northern Italian region of Piedmont. It is made from the nebbiolo grape and is often described as one of Italy's greatest wines.
The zone of production extends into the communes of Barolo, Castiglione Falletto, Serralunga d'Alba and parts of the communes of Cherasco, Diano d'Alba, Grinzane Cavour, La Morra, Monforte d'Alba, Novello, Roddi, Verduno, all in the province of Cuneo, south-west of Alba. Although production codes have always stipulated that vineyards must be located on hillsides, the most recent revision of the production code released in 2010 goes further, categorically excluding valley floors, humid and flat areas, areas without sufficient sunlight, and areas with full-on northern exposures.
Barolo is often described as having the aromas of tar and roses, and the wines are noted for their ability to age and usually take on a rust red tinge as they mature. Barolo needs to be aged for at least 36 months after the harvest before release, of which at least 18 months must be in wood. When subjected to aging of at least five years before release, the wine can be labeled as Riserva.
In the past, Barolo wines tended to be rich in tannin. It can take more than 10 years for the wine to soften and become ready for drinking. Fermenting wine sits on the grape skins for at least three weeks, extracting huge amounts of tannins and is then aged in large, wooden casks for years. In order to appeal to more modern international tastes, those that prefer fruitier, earlier-drinking wine styles, several producers began to cut fermentation times to a maximum of ten days and age the wine in new French oak barriques (small barrels). "Traditionalists" have argued that the wines produced in this way are not recognizable as Barolo and taste more of new oak than of wine. The controversies between traditionalists and modernists have been called the "Barolo wars".
History
Until recently it was believed that up to the mid-19th century, Barolo was a sweet wine. This was attributed to the fact that the nebbiolo grape ripens late in October meant that temperatures would be steadily dropping by harvest. By November and December, temperatures in the Piedmont region would be cold enough to halt fermentation, leaving a significant amount of residual sugar left in the wine. Another popular credence was that in the mid-19th century, Camillo Benso, Conte di Cavour, the mayor of Grinzane Cavour invited the French enologist Louis Oudart to the Barolo region to improve the winemaking techniques of the local producers. Using techniques focusing on improving the hygiene of the cellar, Oudart was able to ferment the nebbiolo must completely dry, making the first modern Barolo. This new, "dry" red wine soon became a favourite among the nobility of Turin and the ruling House of Savoy, giving rise to the popular description of Barolo as "the wine of kings, the king of wines".
The idea that Barolo was once a sweet wine and that it took a French oenologist to turn it into a dry wine has been recently challenged, based on new research, by Kerin O'Keefe. According to this revision of Barolo's history, Paolo Francesco Staglieno was responsible for the modern dry version. He was the author of a winemaking manual, Istruzione intorno al miglior metodo di fare e conservare i vini in Piemonte, published in 1835. It was Staglieno who was called upon by Camillo Benso, Conte di Cavour, who appointed him to the position of oenologist at his Grinzane estate between 1836 and 1841. Staglieno's task was to produce quality wines geared towards ageing and stable enough to be exported. Staglieno fermented the wines dry, something that at the time was referred to as "the Staglieno method". Oudart was a grape and wine merchant, not an oenologist, who in the early 1800s moved to Genoa and set up a winery, Maison Oudard et Bruché. By the time Oudart turned up in Alba, King Carlo Alberto and Cavour were already following Staglieno's guidelines and both were producing dry wines. This revised version of the history of Barolo was positively accepted by other experts.