Barolo Wine Tour, The best in the world

If I asked you to name the best wine in the world, would you say Barolo from the Piedmont district of Italy? The have been fighting for the title with the French Bordeaux, but the Bordeaux has been scandal plagued over the past couple of years. I think if you tasted it, as we did, you would agree. Ivan, is an italian wine expert and got us the chance to take a tour and tasting at the Marchesi di Barolo Wine center in the town of Barolo. The tour was very technical and extensive. To learn more , here is a nice Wikipedia article about the wine:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barolo

 We took a tour of their processing facility there on the winery grounds. This Winery has been in existence and processing Barolo from the Nebbiolo grape since the early 1800, when the Marquesi moved from France and brought her winemaking skills to this region. There is still bottles of wine that she personally bottle, in the private wine cellar

If you look closely at the hand written lables on the right most bottles, you will see the years 1859 and 1861. And the wine is still drinkable. That is one of the characteristics of the Barolo wine, it really doesn't begin to get good until it is at least 10 years old. One of the things I learned, is that if you do have a bottle of Barolo, it already is at least 4 years old. It has to be that for the fermentation and bottling to occur, That is all very strictly controlled by the Appellation governance, which is what makes this so good.

Also, in their private wine cellar, they have a collection of wine going many years back, which can be purchased (the Marquesi wines from the 1800's are not for sale). For example, they have wines bottled in the early 1940s, which were great growing years and which can be purchased for about $2500 per bottle. For a 70 year old wine. Oh, They actually change the corks on these older bottles every 10 years because they do dry out and would spoil the wine if left alone.

We missed the harvesting by only 1 week. Just last week they finished picking the grapes and pressing   them.(No they do not stopm them with their feet any more). after all they are producing hundreds of thousands of bottle every year.

They use only certain oak for their barrels and these barrels here, which are probably 10 feet in diameter are over 100 years old. They were refurbished 10 years ago and are good for another 100.

The smaller barrels, which are made exclusively of a certain French Oak and are used in the finishing aging process, are only good for 5 years and then they are sold. Did you ever wonder where those wood barrels came from that you plant in, and why?

There are many steps to creating a great wine like a Barolo. In fact, a sister wine, a Piedmont Barbera uses the same great grapes but a slightly different storage and aging process.. It is not as agedas the   Barolo is.
After the tour, we got a chance to sit and taste some wines. And I also learned from Ivan the correct way to Sip to get the maximum effect. I'll just have to show you the next time someone pours a good Barolo or a Barbera for me. (hint, hint) Actually a "new" Borolo not aged 10 years, can be found in the $25 to $75 range. A good buy especially if you have a place you can lay it down for 5 to 6 more years and have the discipline not to drink it.

   

 These are the three wines we tasted, A Barbera, A Barbaresco, and A Barolo. We tasted the youngest first and moved to the best last.

We had a great goat cheese and bread sticks to keep us going. We also had water available. Not that we drank that much, Just a short glass of each. 

It would have been nice to finish the bottle, but we did have to drive back to Torino.
I now know what to say when someone volunteers to bring wine to one of my dinner parties. Barolo, of course.
I'm making light of this but it is an absolutely wonderful wine, you just can image how good it tastes.

There are more pictures in this link:  Barolo Wine Tour

Of course this is a business and there are plenty of wines for sale

This is only 1 of several hundred Wineries that make up the Barolo appellation area, but it probably is one of the larger. Barbera and Barolo are the exclusive wines they crush and make. One of the things it became clear of in the process is that the wine is the result of the controlled process and the assistance of nature, wind, rain and soil. It is not the result of chemical manipulation, which has become the mainstay of lots os commercial wines, to create a consistent flavor. Thats why in a premiere wine like a Barolo or a Bordeaux, some years are more favored that others, because nature was better to the grapes.