1999 Barolo La Serra, R. Voerzio

Roberto Voerzio

Voerzio is the original ‘modernist’ Barolo estate. Based in La Morra, Roberto started in the 1980s with five hectares. He makes tiny quantities from a number of top vineyards (La Serra, Rocche dell’Annunziata, Cerequio, Fossati Case Nere, Sarmassa), 60 percent of which have been planted at high density levels. Yet in the winery he’s relatively traditional, eschewing roto-fermentors or manipulation of the fruit, ageing in a combination of small and (since 2008) increasingly large botti.

Nebbiolo

Nebbiolo is the grape behind the Barolo and Barbaresco wines and is hardly ever seen outside the confines of Piedmont. It takes its name from "nebbia" which is Italian for fog, a frequent phenomenon in the region.

A notoriously pernickety grape, it requires sheltered south-facing sites and performs best on the well-drained calcareous marls to the north and south of Alba in the DOCG zones of Barbaresco and Barolo.

Langhe Nebbiolo is effectively the ‘second wine’ of Piedmont’s great Barolo & Barbarescos. This DOC is the only way Langhe producers can declassify their Barolo or Barbaresco fruit or wines to make an early-drinking style. Unlike Nebbiolo d’Alba, Langhe Nebbiolo can be cut with 15% other red indigenous varieties, such as Barbera or Dolcetto.

Nebbiolo flowers early and ripens late, so a long hang time, producing high levels of sugar, acidity and tannins; the challenge being to harvest the fruit with these three elements ripe and in balance. The best Barolos and Barbarescos are perfumed with aromas of tar, rose, mint, chocolate, liquorice and truffles. They age brilliantly and the very best need ten years to show at their best.