Nebbiolo

NEBBIOLO
We are so proud to announce our first bottling of this brilliant yet extremely rare to NJ Northern Italian Varietal.
Aged over 1 year this light brite yet bold red wine is a full body tannic wine with a delicate floral nose of rose petals with a hint of violet and spice. Perfect for a true wine snob this wine produces a flavor that we can only compare to a Borolo or a Caberenet Sauvignon blended with Shiraz! Perfect with Filet Mignon or a nice juicy porter house steak this wine has such a unique palate that can be enjoyed by it self or even with a cigar or chocolate. By far one of our proudest estate wines grown her, fermented here, and bottled on site only 22 cases produced this year!

GET SOME KNOWLEDGE
Nebbiolo (Italian), or Nebieul (Piedmontese) is a red Italian wine grape variety predominately associated with the Piedmont region where it makes the Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) wines of Barolo, Barbaresco, Gattinara and Ghemme. Nebbiolo is thought to derive its name from the Piedmontese word nebbia which means "fog." During harvest, which generally takes place late in October, a deep, intense fog sets into the Langhe region where many Nebbiolo vineyards are located. Alternative explanations refers to the fog-like milky veil that forms over the berries as they reach maturity or that perhaps the name is derived instead from the Italian word nobile, meaning noble. Nebbiolo produces lightly colored red wines which can be highly tannic in youth with scents of tar and roses. As they age, the wines take on a characteristic brick-orange hue at the rim of the glass and mature to reveal other aromas and flavors such as violets, tar, wild herbs, cherries, raspberries, truffles, tobacco, and prunes. Nebbiolo wines can require years of aging to balance the tannins with other characteristics.

WINE SO GOOD THE MADE LAWS AGAINST HURTING THE VINES
Documents from the castle of Rivoli dated 1235 refer to a description of the grape that fits Nebbiolo while more specific referrals were made in 1303 and 1304, referring to the grape as both “nebiolo” and “nubiola,” the later evoking a description of the wine as delightful and excellent. By the 15th century, the laws of La Morra were firm that the punishment for destroying a Nebbiolo vine could range from a severe fine to amputating the right hand and for repeat offenders, hanging.

HISTORY
Ampelographers believe that Nebbiolo is indigenous to the Piedmont region though some DNA evidence suggest that it may have originated in Lombardy. In the 1st century AD, Pliny the Elder noted the exceptional quality of the wine produced in Pollenzo region located northwest of what is now the Barolo DOCG zone. While Pliny does not explicitly name the grape responsible for these Pollenzo wines, his description of the wine bears similarities to later descriptions of Nebbiolo-based wines, making this potentially the first notation of wine made from Nebbiolo in the Piedmont region. The first explicit mention of Nebbiolo dates to 1268 where a wine known as "nibiol" was growing in Rivoli near Turin. This was followed by a 1303 account of a producer in the Roero district described as having a barrel of "nebiolo" (sic). In the 1304 treatise Liber Ruralium Commodorum, the Italian jurist Pietro Crescenzi described wine made from "nubiola" (sic) as being of excellent quality. In the 15th century, statutes in the region of La Morra (in what is now the Barolo zone) demonstrated the high esteem that the Nebbiolo vine had in the area. According to these laws, the penalties for cutting down a Nebbiolo vine ranged from a heavy fine to having the right hand cut off or hanging for repeat offenders.

The grape first captured attention outside of Piedmont in the 18th century, when the British were looking for alternative wine sources to Bordeaux due to prolonged political conflicts with the French. However the lack of easy transport from Piedmont to London would keep the Piedmontese wine from having the enduring relationship with British connoisseurship that is associated with Bordeaux, Port and Sherry. Nonetheless, plantings of Nebbiolo continued to grow during the 19th century until the phylloxera epidemic hit. With vast swaths of vineyards devastated by the louse, some vineyard owners decided to replant with different grape varieties with Barbera being a significant beneficiary. Today, Nebbiolo covers less than 6% of Piedmont vineyards.

For More Information follow this link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebbiolo#History