Ca' Bianca Barolo 2007

Winery: Ca' Bianca

Varietal: Nebbiolo

Nebbiolo grapes have been grown for centuries in the hilly region of northern Italy, and have more recently started to appear in many New World countries, too, where modern vintners have expressed great enthusiasm for their fine characteristics. Their fame and popularity is widely known, and the Nebbiolo varietal is recognized as the grape responsible for producing the legendary fine wines of Italy. Indeed, this grape is packed full of intense and interesting flavors, ranging from truffle and prune, to tobacco and violets, making the wines they produce a sensory delight which simply get better the longer they are aged. The grapes also lend a beautifully pale red color to their wines, which helped secure their place as some of the finest and most elegant to be found anywhere on earth.

Region: Piedmont

The region of Piedmont in the cool, breezy north-western part of Italy is renowned throughout the world for high quality, flavorful and delicious red wines, and for the elegant and refined sparkling wines such as Asti which typify the area. The region is located at the foothills of the Alps, close to the French and Swiss borders, and benefits from some interesting micro-climates formed by its proximity to the mountain range. The key grapes for the fine red wines of Piedmont are Nebbiolo, Dolcetto and Barbera – all powerful varietals which are packed full of a range of fruit flavors and which have an affinity for oak making them ideal for aging When it comes to the sparkling Asti, wineries cultivate plenty of Moscato grapes, whose relative transparency make them ideal for expressing their terroir and providing some interesting flavors in the bottle.

Country: Italy

It isn't difficult to understand why Italy is famed not just for the quality of its wines, but also for the vast variety and range of characteristics found in the wines there. The terrain of the country varies wildly, from the lush rolling green hills and valley of Tuscany, to the sun drenched rocky coasts of Sicily, the mountainous and alpine regions of the north, and the marshy lowlands of the east. Italy really does have a little bit of everything. Combine this huge range of landscapes with an almost perfect climate for grape cultivation, and you have a country seemingly designed for viticultural excellence. The results speak for themselves, and it is clear to see that wine has become an inseparable part of Italian culture as a result of its abundance and brilliance. Each village, city and region has a local wine perfectly matched with the cuisine of the area, and not an evening passes without the vast majority of Italian families raising a glass of locally sourced wine with pride and pleasure.

Appellation: Barolo

The beautiful hilly sub-region of Barolo in Italy's legendary wine region of Piedmont is an extremely special place, and is said by many to be the home of Italy's greatest red wines. The lush, green hills are regularly covered with mists, which help to temper the otherwise hot and sunny weather, and thus slow the ripening process of the fine Nebbiolo grapes which thrive there. For thousands of years, this part of Italy has been responsible for producing wines of exquisite character and flavour, and little has changed in the twenty-first century. Traditional methods sit comfortably alongside modern techniques, and the results are rarely anything short of splendid, thanks to the dedication the local wine-makers have to supreme quality always coming before quantity.