Nebbiolo is a great vine sensitive to geographical conditions which gives some of the finest and most long-lived red wines in the world. Wines that have high tannins and acidity when young but can be transformed with years of bottle into wines with one of the most seductive aromas in the world, with a bouquet that ranges from goudron to violets to roses. Nebbiolo is a native grape and almost limited to Piedmont, where it reigns supreme in a realm of typical varieties. It has been registered as a famous vine of the region since the fourteenth century and probably takes its name from the "fog" frequent in Piedmont in October, during the harvest. It is of supreme importance for quality but secondary for quantity in the Italian wine industry.
Even in Piedmont it is confined to a few select areas and represents only three per cent of the region's total wine production, just a fraction of, say, Barbera production. Nebbiolo always ripens late, with harvests regularly exceeding mid-October, and therefore occupies the slopes with the best exposures, from South to South-West. Perhaps no less important than the position are the soils in which it is planted: it has proved decidedly difficult and has given the best results only on the calcareous marl north and south of Alba, on the right bank of the Tanaro river, respectively in Barbaresco and Barolo. Here the Nebbiolo-based wines reach their maximum aromatic complexity and express a fullness of taste that balances the relatively high acidity and the consistent tannins that are never lacking.
The Red Piedmont wines, produced in the wider area of the Langhe Nebbiolo and also of the more limited Nebbiolo d'Alba are less intense and long-lived than the large and very variegated ones of the single vineyards of Barolo and Barbaresco. Planted on the sandiest Roero soils on the left bank of the Tanaro, the Nebbiolo wine is particularly light and smooth, the parallels with Bourgogne's Pinot Noir are evident in terms of the sensitivity of the grape variety to the locality. Good Nebbiolos are produced in various types of soil also in the hills on the left and right banks of the Sesia river, in denominations such as Boca, Bramaterra, Fara, Gattinara, Ghemme, Lessona and Sizzano, where the vine is called Spanna and is usually blended with the softer Vespolina and/or Bonarda grapes.
Nebbiolo, also known as Picutener, also plays a prominent role in the small area of Carema on the border with Valle d'Aosta and in the contiguous and equally small area of Donnaz. Valtellina is the only fairly extensive area outside of Piedmont where the vine, known there as Chiavennasca, is grown. It is almost unknown in the rest of Italy, despite being part of the Franciacorta cocktail.
Giuseppe Quintarelli from Veneto has experimented with the vinification of dried Nebbiolo grapes; Alessandro and Gian Natale Fantino from Monforte d'Alba produce Nebbiolo Passito grapes.
Three main clones of Nebbiolo have conventionally been identified (but much remains to be done in this direction): Lampia, Michet and Rosé, which is rapidly disappearing as it gives wines of decidedly pale colour. Michet is a form of Lampia affected by virosis which gives low yields and expresses particularly intense aromas and flavours, but does not adapt to all soils. Many producers prefer to rely on a careful mass selection in their vineyards rather than stake their future on a single clone.
The total area planted with Nebbiolo has been reduced to 5,200 hectares, approximately half of that planted with Dolcetto and a tenth of the Italian area cultivated with Barbera.
The quality of Barolo and Barbaresco has prompted winemakers from all over the world to experiment with Nebbiolo, but so far the wines have lacked the best qualities of the grape variety in Piedmont. Nebbiolo wine followed Barbera somewhat reluctantly in both North and South America; to date few Californian wines have expressed at least in part the intrinsic value of the grape, although the trend of everything Italian has been a strong incentive to improve the situation. In South America, high yields penalized the quality of the variety. Argentina's few hundred hectares are almost all in the province of San Juan.
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