Our Barolo Blog Explained

Since for part of the year, we live near the town of Barolo, we visit there as well as some of the eleven towns in that area that, by law, are able to produce Barolo, to taste new releases and, if they are suitable for our cellar, purchase them.  Since we do go more than the average person, we decided to write about our findings, mainly the good, but also some of the not so good Barolo, Barbaresco and Nebbiolo that we taste.  This blog will not be updated every day nor every week and maybe not even every month but, we will relate to you what we think when we do travel there.  We will also provide the reader with the type of food that you might serve with the wine we review once it is opened.

We take no compensation for what we write.  On occasion, we are offered a complementary bottle or two of their wines, usually because we have purchased a number of bottles.  Sometimes, even a discount if our purchases past the level that the cantina has set.

Some confusion has surfaced about the prices we list on some of the wines.  Those are prices that the cantina/winery sets and are for the clients that buy directly from the cantina/winery.  Prices may vary where you buy your wine!

We do not drink Barolo, Barbaresco or Nebbiolo every day.  Our house wine, a Barbera d'Asti, is grown and made by Michele Ferrero in Costigliole d'Asti.  We also have his Arneis for guests that prefer white wine.  He and his brother make excellent wines.  We have most of his efforts in our cellar for aging and drinking on a regular basis.  Michele is the brother-in-law of one of our very good friends, Laura Toso of Agriturismo La Mussia (https://www.lamussia.it).  This is the only possible conflict of interest that could be perceived.

Another piece of information...we are frequently served wines that are not Barolo, Barbaresco (both made with the Nebbiolo grape) or Nebbiolo itself.  This blog is about Barolo, Barbaresco and Nebbiolo so we will not discuss anything except these three.

If there is a particular cantina (winery) you would like us to visit, please communicate and tell us why and what particular offerings that you would like us to concentrate on.  You may contact us by clicking here!

For the short time we have been writing about our experiences in tasting Barolo, Barbaresco and Nebbiolo, we have come to realize that dealing with the owner of a cantina or the winemaker makes a big difference in the wines.  Yes, we know that this is all psychological but if you have tasted as many wines as we have (one of us was a wine investor in California before moving to Italy), you realize the personal touch is very important so we will not write any further about wine "factories" nor will we even visit them unless it is unavoidable.  Someone asked us how many Barolos that we had tasted.  Our first "guess" was around 400 but after thinking about it, the number increased to 500.

One more thing that has become more common in our travels...wineries/cantine have begun to charge for tastings/degustazione.  In an effort to still bring in the public to taste their wines, they often do not tell people that they will owe what we consider a significant amount if their purchases do not qualify them for a waiver.  Be aware and ask if there is a charge to taste!

Since the world has become what could be considered a dangerous place with the virus running rampant, for those that read the blog on occasion, you will see that we have not had a lot of things to write about.  Even now, the second week in June, 2020, while not being confined to our home, we have not visited any wineries because they are still not allowed to have visitors or do tastings.  We look forward to tasting the 2018 vintage which is widely said to be one of the best in recent times.

And lastly, as many of you know, wine is a subjective thing.  What we like, you may deplore, but you will have the opportunity to read what we think and maybe give you the impetus to try something new.

The opinions expressed here are ours and ours alone.

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