In caso di nebbia

Our plane from Dublin to Milan was running late. Captain Paddy announced that he had to disembark from our aircraft to fly another one so that it wouldn’t be late. Go figure – does that make sense? I am not the world’s most patient person and besides, didn’t they know that I had been waiting to go to Italy for my entire life?

Late as we were, we descended into Milan with just enough daylight left to capture the panorama of huge mountains; spectacularly huge mountains, spreading toward the north. I was very excited. We were heading to the Langhe, a hilly area in the province of Cuneo in Piemonte. If you look at the boot, we were going to just below the knee on the left hand side. We picked up our rental car at the airport and at 9.30pm we called the hotel to tell them we were on the way. “OK it takes 2 hours”. Excellent! In two hours we would be in Barolo, the eponymous village of one of the world’s greatest wines. Or not…

We set the “never fail” navigation and headed off. The Vineyard Manager stalled the car several times in the first few metres (which was apparently my fault for booking a manual, with a left hand drive car). It was also apparently my fault because the more you laugh at someone stalling a car the more they do it. Now unbeknown to us, the “never fail” GPS had been set to avoid toll charges, so instead of a nice quick cruise down the Autostrada, we were taken on a maze of little back roads, firstly through the outer parts of Milan and onward to Barolo.

For the majority of the trip, the Vineyard Manager managed to stay on the correct side of the road. For the other times, I managed to embed my finger nails in the car seat. When we finally made our way out into more open country, the anxiety of driving on narrow roads, eased into confusion over the speed limit signs. We were certain the speed limit on the regional roads was 90km per hour, but every now and then this random 50km per hour sign would appear. It finally clicked that under the 50km signs was a disclaimer “in caso di nebbia”. Now my Italian is very limited, but this word nebbia was one I was very familiar with. It is Italian for “fog”. The sign was saying “in case of fog”. The name of the great grape nebbiolo was derived from this word as the Langhe is prone to thick blankets of fog during the autumn; fog that cools the air, causing a longer ripening season for these grapes to develop extraordinary complexity and flavour.

Thankfully there was no nebbia this night as our episodes on the wrong side of the road, gear crunching and swearing at the GPS were excitement enough. We finally made it to Barolo at 1.00am.

Having driven into Barolo in the dark, we awoke to the most breathtaking vista imaginable. Our room at the Hotel Barolo had sweeping views, of gently rolling hills of vines, as far as the eye could see. From the breakfast room and pool area the hotel looks across the vines to the Castello di Barolo. It was magnificent.




breakfast at the Hotel Barolo

The village of Barolo is the perfect base for wine pilgrims to drink in the seductive enchantment of the Langhe Hills. The village reeks of its rich wine history and we were lucky enough to be there during vintage la vendemmia. The smell of fermenting grapes was infused into the warm air of the cobblestone streets. In contrast to old stone buildings, the abundance of shiny new tractors, towing stainless steel grape bins suggested that this is a wine region getting some serious money for its vino.



The wine museum in the Castello di Barolo is a good starting point to understand the region. I could take or leave the museum display itself, however the enoteca is a temple for wine tourists. Here you can taste the wines and the helpful staff are happy to talk about the region. Barolo is grown on two distinct types of soil; sand and clay and some communities have a mixture. At the enoteca, we were shown the map, which defines the communes into the different soil profiles. We enjoyed a tasting of the wines to understand their differences. The wines grown on the sandy soil are more perfumed, more elegant in structure and have more of a velvety texture to their tannins. These babies of Barolo are ready to drink in about 8-10 years.



When we tasted the wines from the clay, both the vineyard manager and I smiled. That knowing smile! That wine moment when you have just tasted something quite extraordinary. These beasts of wines are hugely tannic, full bodied and powerful. They are big on everything, big on extract, big on alcohol and big on austerity. They need 12-15 years to be tamed.

Apart from the castle there are a few good enotecas in Barolo, where you can pick up some other great Piemonte wines. Barbera seems to be amazing value for money and we managed to score some incredibly good wines for as little as six euros per bottle.



We also managed to find some of the rare naschetta. This is an indigenous white grape that had almost died out but was preserved by the university of Turin. It is now produced in Novello in fairly small volumes (no one wants to give up too much valuable red vineyard space). Naschetta is an incredibly ballsy white. It is made with some skin contact and has good structure, fleshiness with weight and plenty of texture. My notes describe white peaches and melon balanced by lovely fresh acidity. It certainly has some longevity and there are herbaceous complexities in the more full bodied ones that we tried.



Of course you can get plenty of great wines by the glass in the restaurants and cafes in Barolo. Wandering around the village there are a few cute places to dine. Common white wine choices are arneis, chardonnay and favorita. The favorita is related to vermentino, however it has much more tree fruit character (specifically pears) than its Ligurian cousin.



At the Hotel Barolo, the Brezza family run their own restaurant. The outdoor terrace has views across to the Castle. Here we were able to dine on some authentic regional cuisine such as vitello tonnato, crumbed porcini mushrooms and a beautiful zucchini frittata (which was soufflé like) with fresh pesto. For secondi (main courses) there was a choice of ragù, rabbit, sausages, beef braised in barolo, boar and various other hearty affairs (and they need to be to stand up to the wine). The Brezza wines are fabulous and we enjoyed a 2004 Barolo from the Cannubi Vineyard. It starts out with tobacco, tar, mocha and dark chocolate which evolves to a long generous palate of cola, and sarsparilla with layers of herb and spice complexity; sage, oregano, almonds, violets and licorice. It finishes with roast tomatoes and some rich balsamic notes.



If you are wanting to explore the great wines of Barolo then this is a great location.


The view from our room as the moon rises

A note of caution though, these wines are not for the faint-hearted so take it easy, drink plenty of water and if you do have a few over indulgences then the next morning do as the locals do and shoot back a café macchiato with sugar stirred in for extra effect. It works a charm and clears the head - In caso di nebbia

Brasata di manza al Barolo (beef braised in Barolo)

• 1kg of boneless beef striploin
  
• 1 bottle of Barolo (or Nebbiolo)
  
• 25 grams of prosciutto (include fat) finely diced
  
• 1 onion cut in quarters
  
• 2 whole garlic cloves
  
• 1 carrot chopped
  
• 1 stick of celery chopped
  
• 2 bay leaves
  
• 10 peppercorns
  
• 1 sprig of rosemary
  
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter
  
• salt
  
• cornflour
  

1. Use a deep dish and place in it the onion, carrot, celery, bay leaves and peppercorns. Place the meat on top and pour over the bottle of wine. Cover with cling wrap and place in the fridge to marinate for 24 hours. You will need to turn the meat in the marinade several times during this 24 hour time.
2. Remove the meat from the marinade and use a clean tea towel to dry it. Tie it with string to allow it to keep its shape.
3. Strain the marinade and put the liquid in a pot on the stove and bring to the boil. Reduce it by half.
4. In a large casserole pan melt the butter and add the prosciutto, garlic and rosemary and then the meat. Brown the meat on all sides and lower the heat. Once the marinade is ready, season the meat with some salt and then pour the marinade over the meat a little at a time.
5. Cover the dish and cook over medium heat until the meat is medium rare. Remove it from the pan, take off the string and let it rest.
6. Deglaze the pan juices and then thicken using a small amount of cornflour.
7. To serve slice the meat and pour over some of the sauce. To lighten things up, I like to serve with a crisp green leaf salad, seasoned with salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic. I also love roast beetroot with this dish.

Enjoy with a glass of Barolo!
Recipe adapted from the book - "La Cucina - The Regional Cooking of Italy" (Accademia Italiana Della Cucina) The Italian Academy of Cuisine - translated by Jay Hyams

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