If ever a wine’s label perfectly captured the essence of the juice inside, today’s is it: The Brezza family’s Langhe Nebbiolo is adorned with a brightly illustrated image of a poppy flower, the likes of which turn the Langhe’s undulating hillsides red in Summer and, in the colorful language of the Brezzas themselves, “[make] your imagination soar on wings of freshness.”
The whole point of wines carrying the Langhe Nebbiolo or Nebbiolo d’Alba DOC designations is to provide a lighter, more readily accessible alternative to Barolo/Barbaresco. Brezza is one of the benchmark estates of Piedmont, located in the town of Barolo proper, and while its base-level Barolo wine is aged for two years in barrel and one in bottle before it is released into the market, this light and lively Langhe Nebbiolo is bottled up and shipped after about six months’ rest in stainless steel tanks. Brezza’s classically styled Barolo wines are some of the prettiest, most finessed examples in the region, so it’s no surprise that their Langhe Nebbiolo is downright balletic, its red cherry fruit and potpourri of florals underpinned by subtle spice and forest floor savor. It is Barolo drawn in delicate, detailed miniature, a pure pleasure to drink and one of the very best Italian wine values I’ve seen all year. I can’t get enough—you should stock up as well!
And while I’m loath to re-visit the comparisons between Barolo and Burgundy—and thus Nebbiolo/Pinot Noir—this wine brought me back there. Usually, as I’ve said before, I just don’t see it: They share expressive, floral perfumes and lots of red fruit notes, but Nebbiolo is almost always more mineral-edged savory in the end. Today’s 2017 offers some of the sweet seduction of Pinot without losing its Nebbiolo soul, and that’s not something you see every day: Langhe Nebbiolo comes in all shapes and sizes, as its production is not very closely prescribed. Some Langhe Nebbiolos are from younger vines. Some are oaked, others are not. Some are designed to convey freshness and varietal purity; others come close to Barolo or Barbaresco in structure and profundity. The Brezzas very clearly seek the former here, and they bottle the wine using the same type of airtight glass closure seen widely in bottles of German and Austrian white wine.
Fourth-generation Enzo Brezza now oversees this historic property, which has been estate-bottling Barolo wines from the famed “Cannubi” vineyard (among others) since 1910. Enzo’s gloriously mustachioed father, Oreste, is still a constant presence as well, helping out in the vineyards and winery or holding court in the family’s on-site restaurant. Their 18 hectares of vineyards, farmed organically, are mostly in the commune of Barolo, and their winemaking style is resolutely traditional: fermentations are begun spontaneously with native yeasts, and the Barolo wines are aged only in large-capacity Slavonian oak casks before being bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Today’s wine, meanwhile, is a more straightforward affair: Grapes are sourced from assorted estate-owned plots in the Barolo zone and subjected to a very short maceration on the skins (about 6-10 days) during fermentation so as not to accentuate Nebbiolo’s already strong tannins. The wine is aged in stainless steel and bottled in the Spring following the harvest, and therein lies its considerable charm: In the glass, it’s a pale garnet red moving to rosy pink at the rim, with a beautiful rush of ripe red fruits—cherry, raspberry, wild strawberry—leading the charge on the nose. Lots of rose, violet, and citrus rind aromas follow, along with hints of tobacco, tar, and crushed stones. Rarely is Nebbiolo from the Barolo area as light-bodied and silken-textured as this (normally you’d need to go further north to find such expressions), and boy does it go down easy. There’s enough backbone for it to age for a few years, but I can’t imagine why anyone would choose to wait: Decant it 30 minutes before serving in Burgundy stems at 60 degrees and let it rip! It has enough finesse to bridge the meat/fish divide, and in fact the first thing I thought of when I tasted it was not some meaty Piedmontese
ragù but some crispy-skinned salmon fillets. Regardless, I’ve found my new ‘house red’ for the foreseeable future.
Salute!
