Tasting-Silk

This wine is a wine from the Belle Meade Winery in Nashville, Tennessee.  It is made from Concord grapes.  Yes, you heard correctly, concord grapes.  This wine is another American wine, truly.  The vintage of the one I tasted was 2010.  You can buy it online or at the winery for $19.50.  Silk is quite a sweet wine obviously.  It is not complex at all.  It just tastes like concord grape juice, the happy version.  I don't think that is a bad thing at all though.  I actually liked this wine.  It was sweet with a bite or crispness to it.  I thought that was rather refreshing.  I didn't have food with this wine and I probably wouldn't.  I would probably just have this as a dessert wine, meaning it would be my dessert.  The winery's review on this wine stated that it is Americas original dessert wine.  They said it was robust and semi-sweet.  I don't think that it is semi-sweet, I think it is full on sweet.  This is another wine that would be great chilled in the summer.  I would be very happy to just have a bottle of this relaxing on the porch.  I actually imagine myself drinking this on the 4th of July watching fireworks and enjoying with friends.  I am a visual person and if I associate something with a good thought such as this then I like it so needless to say I enjoyed this wine.  It was my first wine made from Concord grapes.

Tasting-Red Muscadine

This wine is made from Muscadine grapes.  The one I tasted was a 2010 vintage.  It is from the Belle Meade Winery in Nashville, Tennessee.  It really truly is an American wine.  Muscadine is considered the "American grape".  This was by far my favorite wine at the tasting I believe.  It can be bought from the winery (which I did) or online for $19.50.  This wine was delicious.  It just is simply a sweet delightful wine.  Oddly enough it did have a sort of dry finish to it.  The aromas are notes of the melony, plum type.  It reminded me of the grapes I would go pick out in my grandmothers back yard and enjoy on a hot day.  This might be why I thought this wine was so good.  It was sweet with that true "grape" flavor.  When you think of the standard grape flavor of America, this is it.  I believe this would just be a great summer wine just to have relaxing, but I don't know if I could share it with friends.  The winery reviews this wine as a traditional Tennessee wine and it is best chilled on the porch in the summer...heaven!  I completely agree with that statement obviously.  This wine I would not recommend if you are looking for something with complex flavor, but I would if you are wanting a fun summer drink with friends.  I do believe this wine would be nice with some bread and oil dippings, or some appetizers.  I believe this wine is a carby wine that should be the wine you have when you are ready to splurge on some carbs, or like I said just by itself.

Tasting-Iroquois Red

This wine is a Cabernet Sauvignon variety.  The vintage I tasted was 2010.  This wine is from Nashville, Tennessee from the Belle Meade Winery.  It is an American wine.  It can be bought online or at the winery for $25.  It is barrel aged for 2 years in French Oak barrels.  It was a really good Cabernet Sauvignon for my taste.  It was not too bold and slightly sweet.  Its aromas were oak and of dark fruits such as plum.  I'm working my way through wines trying to adapt my palate to tannins and this wine really didn't have that overpowering tannin taste, which was really nice.  It was very smooth.  The winery says that it is a medium-bodied wine with good balance.  They said it was soft on tannins and sweet with black fruits with an earthy finish.  I agree with this review.  I didn't have any foods with this but I think this wine would go nicely with a steak or some grilled vegetables.  With that earthy taste it would pull the grilled charring flavors from anything from the grill so I think that would be nice.  I could imagine having a nice meal outside from the grill during the summer on a cool night.  That image is very enticing.  I would recommend this wine because it is not an overpowering Cabernet, but if you like big bold flavors, I'm not sure this wine would be for you.

Tasting-Blackberry

This wine is the Blackberry wine from the Belle Meade Winery.  It is located in Nashville, Tennessee, which is an American wine.  It can be bought online or at the winery for $19.50.  It is made from fresh blackberries.  I had never had a wine made from any other type of fruits than grapes before, but I have to say I am a fan.  A little background on this wine is that on the Belle Meade Plantation they used to make homemade wine from blackberries in a mason jar, so they are continuing the tradition.  Of course, they no longer make it in a mason jar, but it does make you understand and feel something different about the wine.  The vintage of the wine I tasted was 2010.  All I can say about this wine is, it is really not complex, but that is most definitely not a bad thing.  The aromas were of blackberries and so was the taste.  This was not a disappointment though because it was sweet and also crisp and refreshing all at one time.  This was one of my favorite wines I tasted at the winery.  It was just so different and delicious.  The winery says this wine is a semi-sweet wine with pronounced berry flavors.  They say cheeses, red meat, and pork would be nice with this wine.  I feel like anything you ate with this would need to have a bold flavor so as to not be overpowered by the wine.  The wine is very flavorful so you would need a sharp cheese and very flavorful meat.  I highly recommend trying this wine out.  I know that I could not resist buying a bottle of this wine.

Tasting-Carriage House White

This wine is interestingly enough created with Vidal Blanc grapes. Its vintage was a 2010.  You can buy it online or at the Belle Meade Winery for $19.50.  It is made in Nashville, Tennessee by the Belle Meade Winery.  Obviously it is an American wine.  The aromas I detected from this wine were overwhelmingly citric with a after-note of floral.  On the palate the wine is pretty dry, but remains crisp and fruity.  It would be a great wine for a hot summer day because of that crispness I believe.  I really think that this wine would be nice with white meats and cheese.  I think that a sharp type of cheese would be spectacular with this.  The winery says that this wine has apple pie and citrus aromas.  They state that this is a semi-dry wine that would go along wonderfully with seafood.   I agree that it would be nice with seafood.  I can imagine drinking this with a nice shrimp dish.  That would be delightful.  I do recommend this wine and others from this winery. I looked up some reviews online for this wine and how well it was liked and I did not see anything negative about it.  It is just a very nice table wine.

Winery visit-Belle Meade Plantation Winery

While visiting the Brentwood, Tennessee area we stumbled upon a plantation called the Belle Meade Plantation located in Nashville.  We decided to take a tour of the mansion and plantation.  After our guided tour was done in the mansion the guide told us that there was also a winery in the back of the mansion.  What could be better than that??  It was a surprise winery visit, and that made it even better!  We walked to the back and had a delicious wine tasting.  These were really the first "sweet" wines that I had ever had.  I thought they were very different than anything I had ever tried.  I can still taste that Red Muscadine wine.  It was so refreshing and delightful.  It was sweet and delicious.  As we all know Muscadine is a true American grape and there are still plenty of Muscadine vine that grow there at the plantation along the fence line.  We also had the Blackberry wine and the Carriage House White wine.  I did not have a wine from this winery that was bad.  It was truly a neat experience.  In fact I came home with a few bottles.  They cost around $20 each, but at the winery they have a special where if you buy a certain amount you get them for a better deal.
This winery's ideal is to recreate what was one the "premier thoroughbred racing and breeding farm in the south for over a century".  They stated that this was the center for hospitality in the 1800s.  While being hospitable they would always provide homemade wines that were made from the domestic, but also the wild, grapevines within the 5,400 acres they owned.  By starting this winery here at the Belle Meade Plantation they are trying to continue the tradition of hospitality provided more than a century ago.  Nothing is better than learning a little bit of history about the place and then getting to enjoy a beverage that probably many guests got to indulge in, in the 1800s.  I would highly recommend visiting this winery.  It is definitely a different experience from your "everyday winery".  It is just a very unique experience.  I will always remember visiting this plantation and winery.  This was one of the best things we have ever "stumbled upon". The old timey feel of the place truly just takes you back to a time when things were not as hustle and bustle.  You can sit and relax with "homemade" wine on their porches of stone buildings or anywhere around the large mansion.  They have a really good thing going with making the winery a part of the plantation and tour because it really makes you feel a part of the past obviously.

However if you are unable to visit the winery, you can still purchase the wine (which I highly recommend).  The wine itself is just as unique as the winery.  It honestly was different, in a good way, from most wine I have tasted before.

Grape Varietal-Marsanne

This is the Marsanne grape variety.  It is a white wine grape

with gold, green, and brown hues.  It is a relatively new

grape when considering varietal.  It does have great

popularity in the Rhone Valley though.  It is the most popular

white wine grape in Northern Rhone Valley.    It has helped

to increase the popularity of the "Rhone Style" wine in

California and the United States in a general sense.  Its skin

is said to be sort of like a peach, semi-thick.  To me this

grape looks like those grapes you can get as decoration that

are made of rubber and are hollowed.  This is beside the

point though.  This grape is delicate, as you may say, to

produce.  If it is in a climate that is too hot then it can over-

ripen and if turned into wine can make the wine very "flabby".  This grape is highly susceptible to

molds and other disease that grape varieties are in danger of.    On the other hand, if the climate is too

cool then the grape does not fully ripen and you get a very bland tasteless wine.    That

being said, most harvesters try and harvest the grapes before they are fully ripened.  It's place of

origin is in France.  It began in the region known as the Northern Rhone Valley in a town called

Marsanne.  This grape is unique in that it has a nutty taste to it as a grape and also an orange type

flavor.  It is moderate in acidity and has a mid-palate richness to it.  It grows best in a granite soil

base, which is what the Northern Rhone Valley provides for this gentle grape.  This grape obviously

grows there still and has found its way to growing extensively in California as well as Washington.  It

also has found a "natural" home in Australia dating back even a century ago.  As this grapes vines age

(up to 15 years) their flavoring becomes more nutty and deeper.  These are the flavorings that they

add to wine.  They are known for giving depth to wine and richness.

    In the map above Marsanne is highlighted in red so that it is clear where Marsanne is located.

This grape when used to make wine can transform into a more honeysuckle and melon taste.  In

weight structure the Marsanne is similar to a Chardonnay.  Yet, much of the time because of

the fragility of this grape and its flavorings, it is not usually alone.  Most of the time this grape variety

is blended with others to make a full bodied wine.  Roussanne is the most common variety to be

blended with Marsanne.  The Marsanne settles down the acidity of the Roussanne and they make a

nice blend together, instead of the bland Marsanne all by itself.  Alone it has a waxy and oily type

feel, and tastes of almond paste.  It has citric notes along with a floral and melon note.  In its finish

you may have the sensations of the oaky, vanilla, or toast type.  It is versatile in the fact that it can be

a dry wine or a sweet wine.  That being said, since Marsanne has a low acidic content it is best to be

consumed young.  Obviously from the descriptions Marsanne can be a heavy wine.  This is why most

are blended with an acidic grape variety.  This is needed to cut through the dense content of

Marsanne wine.

There is one wine called Tahbilk Marsanne.  This vineyard still produces Marsannes dating back to

1927 vines.  They state that this wine they have made is very versatile and can pair very well with

food.  They state that it has a lot of complexity.  This particular wine has won 19 trophies, 79 gold,

109 silver, and 277 bronze medals awarded since 1992.

   You can buy this wine online for around $13 with

a 2012 vintage.  Note: remember to drink in a

sooner than later amount of time because of the

low acidity in this wine.  It has a 12.5% alcohol

content.


As for the blended variety of Marsanne-Roussanne,

they are different in that you can age them for up to

ten years.  The Roussanne allows for the Marsanne

to stay delectable for a little while longer.

Under  Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) regulations

the red wines of Hermitage are allowed to have up to 15%

of Marsanne in them.  The Marsanne wines can be oak aged to provide more body to the wine.  It is important to

know that some Marsanne wines can have a very high alcohol content.  This wine is known to be delicate and

with exciting flavor.  I know I want a bottle as we speak.  This blend is most popular in Hermitage.  The top

producers in Hermitage are JL Chave and Chapoutier.  For those living in the United States, you may be I

interested in knowing that in California the top wineries having the most success with Marsanne are Tablas Creek

and Sine Qua Non.  The Sine Qua Non winery has also produced a non-traditional blend that also included a

blend of Chardonnay.  Still, after finding all the producers of Marsanne in the world, France is still the strongest

leader in producing the most Marsanne viticulture.  There are common synonyms for the Marsanne grape are

Avilleran, Champagne Piacentina, Ermitage, Grosse Roussette, Hermitage, Johannisberg, Marsan

Belyi, Marsanne Blanche, Metternich, Rhin, Rousseau, Roussette de Sainte-Peray, Roussette Grosse,

Seme du Rhin, White Hermitage, Zrmitazh.  If you are interested in trying this grape varietal then just

look for the Marsanne name or any of the other synonyms. 
Lets give this wine a try.  Especially if it is going to be as inexpensive as this wine here.  

References

Marsanne Wine Grape. (n.d.). Retrieved December 16, 2012, from Wine-Searcher website: 

     http://www.wine-searcher.com/grape-268-marsanne

Marsanne. (n.d.). Retrieved from Wineaccess website: http://www.wineaccess.com/wine/grape/marsanne

Lamar, J. (n.d.). Marsanne. Retrieved from Professional Friends of Wine website: 
     http://www.winepros.org/wine101/grape_profiles/marsanne.htm

Winery Visit-West Wind Farm Vineyard and Winery

I would first of all like to apologize for the picture that is sideways and refuses in any way to rotate.  That being said, this is a picture of me and my mother at the West Wind Farm Vineyard and Winery.  It is a very nice place located in Max Meadows, Virginia.  This was the first vineyard I have ever been to, while able to drink, and the second winery.  They have a nice assortment of wines and for prices that won't break a budget.  The day that I went we walked the grounds and looked at the vines of the grapes.  These were not in season at this time so they were not lush with the fruit at the time.
This vineyard was planted in 2003. They have roots dated back nearly a century ago though.  They have dances and events here at the winery frequently and do tastings anytime they are open.  It is free for tasting any 3 wines and then 3+ or all of them is just $5.  To taste all and keep the glass it is just $7 and for just the glass it's $3.  We tasted the wines then got a glass to have with our lunch.  We sat down at the table and got an assortment of foods to share and have with our wine.  I had the Galena Creek Blackberry wine which was delicious.  We paired this with their cheese board, and also they had a seafood soup that was crab, which was also delicious.  Then we shared a chicken casserole type dish that was sort of like chicken pot pie.  All of these things paired well with my wine.  I truly enjoyed this experience.

They have a nice assortment of wines from white, red, and sweet.  The wines they provide are Galena Creek White, Pinot Gris, Riesling, Galena Creek Red, Cambourcin, Cabernet Sauvignon, Heritage Reserve, Galena Creek Blackberry, Galena Creek Peach, New River White, and the New River Red.
At the vineyard they say that their elevation, cool nights, well-draining rocky soil and other factors go far in making our vineyard unique and in generating a distinct, high-quality crop of grapes.  They have a shorter growing season though, particularly in mid-May frosts and early October freezes come.  They never have their wine manufactured, they always make it in small batches.  Doing this makes the wine unique and quality each vintage and batch.  Something else unique about this vineyard is that when they have a batch that they think is particularly good they specialize it and make it their limited release wine.  They have a small homey, local atmosphere.  I would recommend visiting this winery and trying some of their unique wines.

I was able to find a picture online of the vines when they are in season.  This is the vineyard along with a man making a batch of wine.

Grape Varietal-Grenache

The Grenache grape variety is one

of the most widely planted red wine

grape  varieties in the world.  It is

one that ripens pretty late and needs

hot and dry conditions.  This is the

type conditions you get in Spain, the

South of France, and also in

California's San Joaquin Valley,

Australia, . It has a spicy flavoring to it and provides a high amount of alcohol.  This grape much of

the time lacks color and tannin so it is blended with other grape varieties to make up for that.  The

most common blend for this grape is the Syrah.  This is the blend most used by Australia.  In fact this

grape was one of the very first grapes introduced to Australia and became its most popular grape

varieties in the red grape category to be planted.

The grape variety has certain traits of flavors it usually portrays.  The flavors are cherries, raspberries,

and spiciness.  Its winemaking flavors are stated as concentrations and extractions.  Even though

there are plenty of places that plant this grape variety, the places it grows best are Rhone Valley,

France, and Spain.  In Kevin Zraly's book they show that Cotes du Rhone, Languedoc/Roussillon,

and Provence regions grow this variety as a major grape variety.  The Rhone valley is highly known

for their Grenache variety.  In south Australia the two valleys that grow this grape variety the most

are Barossa Valley and the McLaren Vale.  These regions also grow the Shiraz variety grapes.  These

regions are located in South Australia, which is one of the few regions of the world that has never

been affected by phylloxera.

This grape is one of the most important grapes in

Chateauneuf du Pape.  This wine is a prestigious

wine.  The alcohol content in these wines mostly

stays between 13 and 15%.  They do not use

small oak barrels with this wine because of the

Grenache. It is prone to oxidation in porous

wood barrels.


Grenache is a grape variety with an alternate crop.  It can have 8 to 10 per acre one year and 14 to 16

tons per acre the next.  They can yield fleshy heavy vines and then age rapidly.  They become Tawny

with age.  This grape yet still makes its wines more distinctive and identifiable than any other

because of its particular aromas and flavors.  They have thin skin and ripen late in the growing

season, hence the long hot dry growing season.  Now even China, Mexico, and Israel are cultivating

this grape. This grapes popularity continues to grow as the popularity of wine keeps expanding.  I did

some research on sales of the Grenache wine.  Most of he variety was coming from Spain.  They all

pretty much remained under $20 and many of them were actually under $10.   The Grenache from

Australia remained more on the pricey side.  The ones from McLaren Vale were pretty pricey.  One

was $110, but was on sale for $69.99 on wine.com.  There was a wine from Sine Qua Non vineyard

in California that had a 2008 vintage.  This particular wine was priced at $615.  It was called The

Duel.  There was another from the same vineyard and it was called The Line of the same vintage and

it was priced at $275.  The Line is barrel aged for 20 months and it is 87.5% Grenache, 11% Syrah,

and 1.5% Viognier.  It is stated as tight because in 2008 there was a lot of frost on the vineyards.  The

Duel on the other hand has extreme depth, extraordinary richness, and power.  It is 82% Grenache,

14% Syrah, 2% Viognier, and 1% Roussanne.  A portion of the Grenache in this wine is fermented

using whole clusters.  If you are interested in looking at these wines or purchasing them they are for

sale at wine.com.  There are so many choices on this website, and many of them are on sale which is

nice.  The Grenache from Spain may be something nice to start on because they will not knock a

huge hole in your wallet.  If you however make a ton of money or choose to purchase this $615 bottle

of wine, please let me know how it is!

Here is the wine.com link to the Grenache wine pages.  If you have never ordered from there before

you get shipping for 1 cent if you spend $49 or more.   

http://www.wine.com/v6/Grenache/wine/list.aspx?N=7155+124+10080&state=VA

References

Zraly, K. (2011). Windows on the world complete wine course. New York, NY: Sterling Epicure

Grenache Wine. (n.d.). Retrieved December 6, 2012, from Wine-Searcher website: 
     http://www.wine-searcher.com/grape-202-grenache-garnacha

Tasting-Charles Shaw Pinot Grigio

As many people know Charles Shaw wines are at the price of $1.99, also referred to as "2 Buck Chuck".  The price over time, much like other things, has risen, but in California, where 2 Buck Chuck is from, the price remains at $1.99.  In Virginia the price is $3.29 though.  The vintage is 2011.  This wine has a floral nose with hints of fruity undertone.  It doesn't really have a continuing finish. I much more prefer other Charles Shaw wines than this one.  It is nothing extremely special, but it is pretty good for the price.  There are a lot of lemony notes to this wine both to the nose and also the palate.  It isn't really complex.  The reviews online are pretty complimentary comparing the taste to the price.  I feel if it were more expensive though people would not be as intrigued by this wine. It would still pair nicely with a salty cheese.  Overall not a bad wine, but I would recommend trying one of Charles Shaw's other wines.

Tasting-Caprice de Bastor-Lamontagne

This wine is a Sauternes, which also indicated the region in France that it is from.  It is a blend of Sauvignon and Semillion in equal parts.  It is a product of France, but it is imported to the United States by D.S. Trading Company in Virginia Beach, Virginia.  Its vintage is 2004.  In the Vintage Cellar this wine usually sells for $30 but I was able to pick up the bottle on sale for $9.95, and I am so glad that I did.  This wine is delicious.  I have to tell you it starts out with a sweet woody  feel then it hits you with an acidic finish that is out of this world.  It would be a lovely dessert wine or even just a complimentary wine to a nice fish or chicken.  This wine is rich with flavor and accents.  Its nose was not really indicating that is was a very sweet wine.  It more was a fruity tart smell.  I was very pleased with this wine.  It has also been barrel aged which I felt gave it unique characteristics.  Its reviews are pretty high and they say it is good on its own or even with foods as well.  This wine is highly recommended by me and others as well.

Tasting-Galena Creek Red

This is a wine provided by the West Wind Farm Vineyard and Winery.  It is a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chambourcin.  It was a 2010 vintage. It costs $19 for the bottle, $205.20 for the case, and $7 for a glass.  It is from Max Meadows, Virginia.  This particular wine is one that I expected to have notes of woodiness, but I was pleasantly surprised by what it truly brought to the taste buds.  It was most definitely a fruit-forward wine.  It wasn't so much a dark berry wine that I would have also expected, but it was more of a red berry wine.  It was acidic but was well balanced. It had bold flavoring. I would recommend this wine to most.  Now it is not a sweet wine as you may think with the descriptions of fruit, but it has a light tannic structure somewhat.  The winery describes this wine as a fruit-forward wine that exhibits notes of berries and cherries.  I believe this wine would surely be nice with cheese and bread with maybe some oils for dipping. Also, it might be nice with a nice light soup that was cream based, this would cut nicely through that cream with a hint of acidity.

Tasting-Mars and Venus Merlot

This is a Merlot red blend called Mars and Venus.  It is from Chile. This was from the year 2011.  Its price is around $9 average in the United States.  This wine would not be recommended for an entry level wine drinker.  It is a very tannic wine that has very bold flavor.  It has cedar flavoring which also remains in the nose.  The nose also has hints of fruitiness, but it really overpowered by the woodiness.  It has a smooth finish. I had this particular wine with  manicotti. It was very nice with this particular pasta dish.  The review for this wine is that it is a great bargain for the price.  You get a rich full bodied wine that is full of fruit and woody notes. I agree that this is a very classical tasting wine that really pairs nicely with pastas.

Tasting-Galena Creek Blackberry

This particular wine was from the West Wind Farm Vineyard and Winery in Max Meadows, Va.  It is a Pinot Gris.  A bottle of this wine sells for $17.00, a glass $6, and a case is $183.60.  I had the 2012 version of this wine, but bought a glass so I did not get a chance to take a picture of the bottle. It looked just like this, but with a 2012 on it. This was a very pleasant tasting wine that was light and fruity with hints of sugary endings.  The winery describes this wine as a wine with notes of apricot and stone fruit and that it has a hint of residual sugar that balances the acidity pleasantly and increases its appeal to most any palate.  Truly even a beginner could drink this wine because it is not too strong and has a very nice balance of acidity and sweetness.  I would highly recommend this wine to most anyone, especially entry level wine drinkers.

Grape Varietal-Nebbiolo

Nebbiolo is a black skinned red grape

variety.  Its name is derived from the word

nebbia which means "fog".  They have two

beliefs about the meaning behind this

naming.  One is that in late October, an

intense fog sets in the Langhe region where

lots of Nebbiolo vineyards are located or

they say that there is a milky fog-like

substance that forms on the skin of the

berries when they are ripened and ready to

be picked.  It has been cultivated since the

14th century in Valtellina, an east-west

valley in the Lombardy region, at the foot of the Alps. This is a very full bodied grape that has a deep

color.  When it is made into wine it actually portrays a lighter color and as it ages has orange hues

around the edges.  This grape variety is resistant to botrytis, but has little to no resistance to

phylloxera which ran rampid in 1860, reducing the crop of this particular grape variety.

Nebbiolo is a difficult grape to grow.  It is only grown well in one particular part of the world, and

that is, in the Piedmont region in Italy.  There have been attempts to reproduce this luscious grape

variety in many places, but none have been successful.  This grape is very sensitive in that its  body,

color, tannin, acidity, aroma, and flavor complexity can change due to a change in climate or

geography that is why nobody has been able to reproduce a high quality Nebbiolo, but Argentina has

come the closest out of Australia, California, New Zealand, South America, and South Africa.  They

say that this grape is harder to reproduce than a fine Pinot Noir.

The flavors of the grape have been concluded to be, plum, raspberry, truffle, and acidity.  After it is

made into wine it gives off the flavors of strong tea, nutmeg, and gamey, which are a little

unexpected, "different" type flavors.

Nebbiolo, in the Piedmont region, is made into the "heavyweight" wine.  They are Denominazione di

Origine Controllata e Garatita (DOCG).  These DOCG wines are Barolo, Barbaresco, Gattinara, and

Ghemme.  Barolo and Barbaresco are considered to be the best wines produced in this region with the

Nebbiolo grape.  Both have a minimum alcohol content of 12.5%.  Barolo has more body and is more

complex in flavor, and it must be aged at least three years (one in wood).  Riserva is five years of

aging.  Barbaresco is lighter and sometimes has less body than Barolo.  It is seen as fine and elegant.

 It requires two years of aging (one in wood).  Riserva is four years of aging.  After the harvest has

been in Barbaresco they may send it over to Roero, which is an area across the Tanaro river.  There

they add white Arneis to it to soften its tannic edges, which indeed leads to the Arneis variety.

There are many food pairings for this particular grape when made into wine.  They consist of in

Europe, they like to pair them with linguine topped with shaved white truffle and also braised lamb

with truffles.  This has explanation behind the fact that one of the dominant flavors of Nebbiolo as

wine is truffle.  These pairings would be complimentary of one another.  In Asia they like to pair this

with mushroom balinese smoked duck.  This would also be complimentary of the truffle essence.  In

the Americas they sometimes pair this wine delicately with chilean beef and sweetcorn casserole, and

ham hock and black-eyed peas.  There are also much more "normal" pairings as well.  It is interesting

thinking about the meals of seperate countries being able to be paired with this type of grape varietal

as a wine.

This grape may not be the most planted grape due to its fragileness, but it has made some of the most

age-worthy and distinctive wines of the region.  The lower side of the Alps are the preferred area

in which this variety chooses to grow.  It is a rare variety, but it distinguishes itself well. 

This wine is more on the pricey side.  Nebbiolo blends do not seem to have many wines under $30.  I

was searching on wine.com and many of the Nebbiolo wines were on sale, but they still were not

under $30.  By shopping for this wine you can tell it grows mainly or most successfully in Piedmont,

Italy.  On wine.com every wine they were selling was from Piedmont.  The prices ranged from $33 to

$245 on this site.  They had more wine in the hundred dollar price range than any other wine I have

researched so far.  I do no know whether to tell you if you find a cheap Nebbiolo to buy it or

not.  Sometimes cheap is a really good thing because you get a really good wine for hardly

nothing, but then there is also the chance, "there is a reason it is cheap".  Good luck and fantastic

tastings!  

References

Nebbiolo. (n.d.). Retrieved from Wineaccess website: http://www.wineaccess.com/wine/grape/nebbiolo

Nebbiolo Wine. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13, 2013, from Wine-Searcher website: 
     http://www.wine-searcher.com/grape-316-nebbiolo

Zraly, K. (2011). Windows on the world: Complete wine course. New York, NY: Sterling Epicure.