Members of 1876 Wine Club and guests of wine and spirits importer Select Brands were treated to a delightful Italian wine tour of the Piedmont region when Marchesi di Barolo Export Director Valentina Abbona visited Jamaica last week. Valentina, part of the sixth generation of the family running the storied Marchesi di Barolo Winery was touring the Americas and the Caribbean conducting tastings and giving Italian wine lovers an opportunity to discover the amazing wines of the famed north-western wine region — Piedmont, and more specifically, Barolo. Barolo is the name of the region and also the name of the wine, and in this case, Barolo is also part of the name of the winery. Yes, Italian wine-naming conventions can be a bit confusing.

Piedmont

Located in the north-west of Italy, Piedmont produces some of the world’s finest red wines, the most famous being Barolo. The main red grape varietals in the region are Barbera and Nebbiol (which makes Barolo and Barbaresco). White grapes grown here include Cortese (which makes Gavi) and Moscato which makes Moscato d’Asti and the once super popular sparkling wine now simply known as Asti. The Piedmont region is the second largest producer of Italian wines, just a tad behind Veneto and ahead of Tuscany.

Marchesi di Barolo

Its history leads back to 1807 when the Marquis of Barolo, Carlo Tancredi Falletti, married Juliette Colbert de Maulévrier, a French noblewoman who sought the help of an oenologist to make some changes to the way the wines of the times were being made. The new style of Barolo caught the attention of royalty at the time, giving rise to the popular description of Barolo as “the wine of kings, the king of wines”. As the Falletti family had no children, the winery and estate was left to an organisation called Opera Pia Barolo which was later acquired by the Abbona family who still run the business today. Don’t let the name fool you, Marchesi di Barolo also produces Barbera, Barbaresco, Moscato, Gavi and several other wines. We tasted a few at a wine dinner held at Caffé da Vinci last weekend where Valentina Abbona presented four of the wines that are available in Jamaica.

Zagara Moscato

The wine is straw-yellow with gold highlights, and has intense aromatic notes: hints of orange, peach and apricot flowers. It is a refreshing drink at any time of the day. Valentina made a very refreshing and most delicious Moscato Mojito, which was served to guests on arrival.

Marchesi di Barolo Gavi di Gavi 2014

This wine colour is straw-yellow with greenish highlights. It has a delicate bouquet with notes of golden delicious apples and green almonds. Its flavour is elegant, harmonious and lingering, savoury, with balanced mineral notes.

Marchesi di Barolo Ruvei Barbera

The Barbera d’Alba is the most traditional wine from Piedmont. The Barbera grapes are picked by hand, are quickly taken to the cellar, destemmed and softly pressed. Its aroma is fresh, with fruity notes that are reminiscent of blackberry, red fruit jam and spicy notes of vanilla and toasted hazelnuts. Its taste is full and pervasive, with a touch of tartness that gives the wine freshness and fragrance. The oaky note is sharp but well blended with the other aromas. The Barbera d’Alba was served with Caffé da Vinci’s Scaloppine Panna E Funghi.

Marchesi di Barolo Barolo 2009

Made with 100% Nebbiolo, Piedmont’s star grape — these wines tend to be very powerful and concentrated. Some might argue that a 2009 is too young and this wine can safely age for up to 15 more years. While that might be true, it gives wine lovers a great opportunity to experience a wine of this calibre in its youth and taste the change in the glass. With that said, its colour is garnet red with ruby hues. The aroma is intense and persistent with clean scents of spices, cinnamon, tobacco and rose bush. The taste is full and elegant. This was served with Caffé da Vinci’s Brasoto di Manzo.

The evening came to a sweet ending with Tiramisu served with straight Zagara Moscato d’Asti 2014.

Christopher Reckord – Information Technology Entrepreneur & Wine Enthusiast. Send your questions and comments to creckord@gmail.com. Instagram: @chrisreckord Twitter: @Reckord