Nebbiolo is one of Italy's finest grape varieties, capable of making wine of the highest distinction. Rarely grown outside Piedmont, Nebbiolo remains little-known and largely under-valued on the international stage.
Nebbiolo's most famous wines are Barolo and Barbaresco from Piedmont, the best of which are extremely long-lived and bursting with scents of tar, violets, roses, prunes and bitter chocolate.
Nebbiolo's thick-skinned grapes need plenty of sunshine to ripen fully and, when young, the wines are robust and tannic, needing a minimum of five years in bottle to mellow. These days however, many winemakers are making Nebbiolo wines that are more approachable at an earlier age.
