Cantina del Pino Barbaresco DOCG 2006

Yesterday was the familiar, but today is somewhat less so.  We’re back in Italy, in Piedmont, but instead heading southwest from Alba, we’re going in the opposite direction where we can find this Cantina del Pino Barbaresco DOCG 2006.

I wrote a little about Piedmont when I covered the Dolcetto d’Alba not so long ago, but only really to say that’s where Alba is located.  It’s a hugely important wine region in the northwest of Italy, best known for three grapes:  Nebbiolo, Barbera, and Dolcetto.  Nebbiolo is the cornerstone grape of a dozen DOC/DOCGs, and is perhaps most famous when produced on Barolo or Barbaresco.  Barbera is somewhat more rustic, and while widely produced, is very much the second grape of the region.  Dolcetto is third in the rankings, and usually made into a drink now style of wine.  Piedmont is also home to two styles of sparkling wine, Asti and Mostaco d’Asti, as well as some white varieties which represent a small but growing percentage of production.

Barbaresco itself is a DOCG (since 1980), situated to the east of Alba in the Langhe area. A hilly region, the soils are calcareous marl.  The climate is similar to the rest of Piedmont, with hot summers, cold winters and fog, though it is moderated by the river Tanaro.

As the wines of Barbaresco are nearly always viewed as a counterpart to neighbouring Barolo, it’s worth noting how the wines differ.  Both are made from Nebbiolo, but the conditions in Barbaresco ripen the grapes sooner and give lighter wines.  As a result, Barbaresco is a lighter style, and the ageing requirements are a year in oak and two years total, a year less than Barolo.  The lighter body does not take away from the tannins and acidity for which Nebbiolo is known, though Barbaresco matures rapidly and is not meant for the extented ageing commonly associated with Barolo.

I’ve written briefly about Nebbiolo in the context of Jasper Hill, but here again are the basics:  early budding, late ripening, susceptible to poor fruit set with thin but tough skins, it produces lightly coloured wines of high acidity and high tannin levels.  In Piedmont, in addition to Barbaresco and Barolo, it produces several other DOC/G wines, as well as many other less regulated local wines as varietals and blends.  Outside of Piedmont, it is also grown in Valtellina where it is known as Chiavennasca, but otherwise it is little grown in the rest of Italy.  In the New World it has many fans but it is a challenging grape to grow.  There are plantings in the Pacific Northwest of the USA, Argentina, and in cooler areas of Australia, but only a few stand out examples.

Cantina del Pino is one of the oldest producers in Barbaresco.  The vineyards were established nearly a hundred years ago by the former director of the Royal Enological School in Alba, Domizio Cavazza, who first called wine produced in that area from Nebbiolo grapes Barbaresco.  The company is named after a pine tree he planted to mark the birth of his first son, and while his family did not take up the business after he died, the Vacca family who took over after him have maintained it ever since, now on their fourth generation.  They produce three Barbarescos, a Langhe Nebbiolo, a Barbera d’Alba, and a Dolcetto d’Alba, as well as a Langhe Freisa.

While they don’t make any claims as to organic certification, they use no chemical fertilizers, and the average age of their vines is 40 years old.  They use 20-30 day macerations and fermentation in stainless steel, both under controlled temperatures.  They age their wines for two years in oak and at least another year in bottle.  They neither fine nor filter their wines.

In the glass, this wine is clear and bright, with a medium minus garnet colour, and very slow, thick legs.  On the nose it is clean with medium intensity and a developing character.  There are notes of sour cherry, sweet spice, and potpourri.  The palate is dry, with medium plus mouth coating tannins, medium plus acidity, medium minus body, medium flavour intensity, medium plus alcohol.  There is a bit of tar, some perfume, and lovely pomegranate notes. It has a medium plus length.

I rate this a very good wine – I really enjoyed it.  It had a complex mix of flavours and good intensity on the palate.  In addition, it has a really nice colour, as in pretty shade, though not especially deep.

Jasper Hill Vineyard Georgia's Paddock Nebbiolo 2008

As I’ve said before, I drink faster than I write, and as such I have a bit of a backlog of tasting notes and photos awaiting the research and writing to bring them together into a post that I’m willing to publish.  If I were clever, I’d just start at the oldest and work my way through them until I was caught up, possibly not drinking anything new until the backlog was clear.  Instead, I keep finding wines that I absolutely must drink, even when I’m not looking for them, and this is one such wine, Jasper Hill Vineyard Georgia’s Paddock Nebbiolo 2008.

I’m going to start with the producer in this post because they’re the reason I had to have this wine.  Jasper Hill Vineyard is a small producer based in Heathcote, Victoria that is responsible for some of the most highly sought after wines in Australia.  They are best known for two wines that appear in the Outstanding category of the Langton’s Classification, their Emily’s Paddock Shiraz / Cabernet Franc and their Georgia’s Paddock Shiraz.  The quantities produced are very small, with the former producing less than 500 cases and the latter less than 2,500 cases, but their reputation is quite significant.  With even smaller quantities of Grenache, Semillon, Riesling, Viognier, and this Nebbiolo, their total production is roughly 3000 cases.

Established in 1975, they planted the two aforementioned vineyards on a pair of hillsides near Heathcote, roughly 110km north of Melbourne.  They planted the vines on their own roots, rather than grafting onto phylloxera-resistant rootstock.  Organic and biodynamic practices are used in the vineyard, and the vines are not irrigated.  Yes, I have been known to rant about the pseudo-science of biodynamic practices, but since there’s no mention of the word “cosmic” on the entire Jasper Hill Vineyard website, I needn’t say anything more on the topic.  In the winery, they have a minimal intervention philosophy to get the best expression of terroir.  In their case, that takes the form of wild yeast fermentation, maturation for 15 months in oak (French and American, 20% new), no racking, natural malolactic fermentation, and only coarse filtration before bottling.  Their website does mention acid adjustment in the context of something they rarely do, and while it’s certainly preferable to be able to bottle without it, I applaud that they are up front about it possibly being required.  Also, to my mind it makes them seem a bit more pragmatic than dogmatic, another thing I appreciate.

Having enjoyed both Emily’s Paddock Shiraz / Cabernet Franc and Georgia’s Paddock Shiraz, I have now been surprised twice by wines that I didn’t know Jasper Hill Vineyard produced.  First was a year or two ago when I came across a bottle of their Semillon, which was also an excellent wine, but only a few barrels are produced.  Most recently I saw this on a shelf and immediately bought it.  Georgia’s Paddock has one hectare of Nebbiolo which was planted in 1993, from which only 90 cases were produced in 2008.

I’m going to cover Nebbiolo in a bit more depth with a wine from Italy in the near future, but it’s worth laying out the basics now.  It is a red wine grape from the northwest of Italy, native to Piemonte.  It is the grape of Barola and Barbaresco, and produces wines capable of considerable maturation.  It is early budding, late ripening, and susceptible to coulure, or poor fruit set.  Rain during the growing season can adversely impact quality, and it prefers calcareous marl soils.  Its grapes have thin, though unusually tough, skins.  It can typically produce wines of light color, often with an orange tint, high acid, and high tannin.  Tar and roses are the classic descriptors, and there’s at least one producer who has given the name “Tar and Roses” to their Nebbiolo.

Heathcote deserves a quick word.  As I mentioned, it’s in Victoria, north of Melbourne, and west of Nagambie Lakes, home of Tahbilk which I was drinking not so long ago.  It had been grouped with Bendigo as far as wine regions, but has emerged as an independent area capable of producing interesting cool climate Shiraz.  Like the rest of central Victoria, the climate is continental, with warm, dry summers and cool winters.  However, the soil is based on something that makes Heathcote fairly special:  Cambrian basalt.  It’s 500 million year old soil, based on volcanic lava which captured limestone as it flowed and cooled.  The resulting basalt and limestone has become decompressed and red-brown over time.  It’s considered unique within Australia, as other examples of soils based on volcanic material are fairly young and acidic, while the Cambrian soils of Heathcote are old enough that they are fairly pH neutral.

In the glass, this wine is clear and bright, medium minus garnet colour, with quick, thick legs.  On the nose it’s clean, with medium plus intensity, and notes of perfume, cherries, and sweet spice.  The palate is dry, with notes of sour cherries, a little iodine, some roses, and pomegranate, but I can’t say I picked up any tar.  It had medium plus acidity, medium minus fine tannins, medium minus body, medium plus length, medium alcohol, medium plus flavour intensity, and a sour plum finish.

I really enjoyed this wine and think it’s of very good quality.  It was extremely elegant and refined.  It was very approachable and was drinking very nicely, but the flavour profile consisted of lots of fruit and not many secondary characteristics.  I think it certainly has the acidity to age, but it wasn’t especially tannic, certainly not compared with Nebbiolos of Piemonte.  I’d be interested to see how it looks in a few years because I may have had this far too young.