Nebbiolo is a red wine grape variety native to the Piedmont, world famous for its production of the magnificently rich and smoky Barolo wines, and the elegant, more feminine, yet sometimes just as powerful, Barbaresco. The grape is also responsible, totally or in part, for the other splendid wines of Piemonte in Italy, such as Gattinara, Carema and Donnaz.
Nebbiolo is always a late ripener, with harvests that regularly last well past the middle of October, and the variety is accordingly granted the most favourable hillside exposures, south to south west being generally considered the most desirable. Perhaps as important as the vineyard site however, are the soils in which variety planted: Nebbiolo has shown itself to be extremely fussy and gives best results only in the calcareous marls to the north and south of Alba on the right bank of the Tanaro in the DOCG zones of Barbaresco and Barolo respectively.
Wines made from Nebbiolo in the most favourable situations in Piemonte, are high in alcohol, acid and tannin, and are traditionally aged for several years in large oak casks. This is followed by further years of bottle-ageing to develop intense flavours of roses, raspberries and violets. Less-favourable sites can produce softer wines with lower tannin levels.
Nebbiolo sometimes needs to be softened by the addition of other grape varieties, such as Bonarda, which have the same role as Merlot grapes in Bordeaux. In fact, Merlot is used in Lombardy to soften Nebbiolo for the production of Valtellina and Valtellina Superiore wines.
There are only about 5200 ha of Nebbiolo in Italy, but its reputation far exceeds its volume. There are small plantings of the variety in Switzerland, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and California, and a miniscule amount of Australian Wine is made with Nebbiolo. It is remarkable that a variety which produces some the best red wines in the world has not found a major place in other growing regions.