DOC Langhe Rosso Barilin 2009

Even if, according to the production disciplinary, several grape varieties can be used for assembling this wine, the winery has decided to use Barbera in purity.

Fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks and the maceration on the skins lasts 15-20 days in order to extract colour and structure.

After the malolactic fermentation, the wine ages one year in 5 hl tonneaux where it absorbs elements from the wood: ellagic tannins, phenolic aldehydes, lactones and phenolic acids.

The barrel not only coveys the wine clear notes of vanilla, toasted wood and coconut but let also oxygen enter through the staves slowly, thus allowing a process of micro-oxygenation and the tannins polymerization.

In the glass it shows a deep ruby red colour and an intense bouquet with notes of ripe red fruits, cherry and soft fruits and delicate spicy hints because of the aging in barrel. The palate is dry but full bodied with soft tannins, that convey a good structure, well balanced by the typical acidity of the Barbera.

It is an all-course wine, perfect if served with salami-starters, stuffed pasta or risotto, white and red meats such as beef stew but also with cheese like Gorgonzola or Castelmagno.

Serving temperature:16 °C

Production zone

The province of Cuneo and the commune of Villafranca Piemonte in the province of Turin. The Bra produced in the communes in the province of Cuneo which are classified as “mountain” (law n.991; 07/25/1952) can be called from “alpine pasture”.

Characteristics

Cow’s milk cheese, if necessary with oat’s and ovine milk, fat or half-fat, raw, with pressed and half-hard dough.

Shape and dimensions

Cilindric shape, diameter of plain sides around 30-40 cm.; 7-9 cm. tall with official mark impressed. It weighs 6 to 8 Kilos. Light grey, flexible, smooth and regular rind.

Looks of the dough

The dough is white or ivory, moderately consistent, flexible, neatly breaking with a few little air bubbles.

History

Bra cheese has gotten its name from the town of Bra, that was in the past the biggest center for seasoning and selling this cheese. It was in Bra that, back then, the cheese was born. According to Delforno, the cheese was born very long ago and the old piedmontese cheese-makers don’t remember any other kind of cheese produced in this zone.

Anyway, back then the enterprising cheese-makers of Bra gathered all the products of the zone of Cuneo and of the alpine pasturesin the town of Bra, from where they brought the cheese to the ports of Liguria.

Production technique

The main ingredient is cow’s half-fat milk, if necessary with oat’s and ovine milk, gathered during one or two daily milkings. The milk is curdled between 27° and 32° C. with liquid rennet.

The mixture is then broken in pieces as big as hazelnuts, gathered in the “fascere”, if necessary broken again and finally pressed. The salting can be dry or pickled.

The minimum seasoning lasts 45 days in places in which the temperature is 8-10° C and the cheese is regularly brushed and oiled.

Taste and smell

Quite intense milk, leaven, butter and forage flavour. It has the sweet taste of milk, a moderate sapidity and a little bitterness. It is moderately doughy, sometimes feebly flexible.

How to eat it

At the table (very good at the end of the meal) or cooking (salad with walnuts, celery and soft Bra).

Recommended wines

Dolcetto di Diano, Langhe Freisa.

Classification

Official classification: Presidential Decree; 12/16/1982.

Denominazione di Origine Protetta: Reg. (CE) n. 1263; 07/01/1996.

On the table I have served the Barolo Margheria 2006, from the Gabutti Boasso wine farm of Serralunga d’Alba (Cuneo) and my guests really appreciated the choice. 

Known as the “king of wines” for its good structure and general complexity, it is vinified with Nebbiolo grapes in purity and presents an excellent variety of aromas and spices.

It is a red piedmontese wine of great personality, born with the noble Falletti family, the Marqueses of Barolo (a small village on the Langhe hills, in the province of Cuneo) in the nineteenth century.

Aged in new oak barrels for three years, this elegant wine is known for its good longevity which allows it to improve over time even reaching 20/30 years.

Tasting notes

Red garnet in colour with delicate orange nuances, it appears quite thick in the glass, showing the typical “archs” due to the alcohol presence.

The fragrance is very fruity, ethereal and delicate at the same time. It reminds us of the small red fruits as blackberries and currants. The spices, due to the aging in barrels, are well recognized such as noce moscata, tobacco and leather which gives a pleasant smoked hint at the end.

The taste is intense and enveloping, warm (14 degrees of alcohol) and dry with a slighty bitter final. Tannis are very clear, which together with the acid and sapid components give this Barolo a good general balance.

Let’s serve it, after a decantation of at least 3 hours in its right “balloon” glass at the middle temperature of 18/20 degrees.

In spite of being always considered as a sipping wine, it comes difficult to me not to combine it to those tasty recipes from the piedmontese tradition based on red meat such as roasts, mixed boiled or its own braised!

An even more perfect combination is with game in general like fresh pasta “tagliolini” with hare sauce or a good boar stew with chestnuts and polenta.

…with this said, i have just one more thing left to wish you: Enjoy your tasting!

Cheese of cow’s milk, if necessary with ovine and oat’s milk, half-fat, raw, with half-hard and pressed dough. The dough is white or ivory; quite consistent and elastic.

Cylindric or parallelepipedal shape, on one side there s the official mark. In the square moulds each side is 40 cm long, and they are 7-12 cm high; these weigh 7 to 10 kilos.

The round moulds have a 35-40 cm diameter, they are 7 to 9 cm high and weigh 5 to 8 kilos.

The rind is grey, sometimes with red shades, elastic, smooth and regular.

History

The Raschere has got its name from the Ruscharia region (as said by Bertaldi in 1620), that includes the Raschera lake, at the feet of mount Mongioie, and the Rascaira Alp, in the commune of Magliano Alpi.

Production zone

All the province of Cuneo; the moulds produced in the mountains, in the communes of Frabosa Soprana, Frabosa Sottana, Roburent, Roccaforte Mondovì, Ormea, Val Casotto (Garessio), Magliano Alpi, Montaldo di Mondovì and Pamparato, can be called Raschera from Alpine Pastures.

• Official classification: Presidential decree; 16/12/1982.
• Denominazione di Origine Protetta: Reg. (CE) n. 1263 del 01/07/1996

Thecnique production

The Raschera is made of cow’s milk, sometimes with ovine or oat’s milk, warmed up at 29-30°C and mixed with liquid rennet; the mix is then broken for five minutes, beaten and put in a cloth, so that it will drain.

It is then put in the “fascere” and pressed. The square moulds go from the “fascere” to the “conca”, where the high is salted, four or five days before the plain sides.

The seasoning lasts more than thirty days.

Taste and smell

Intense milk and forage scent; the Raschera from Alpine pastures has more acrid flavors of alpine herbs. The fresh moulds have a delicate and fine taste; the seasoned ones have an intense, pesistent and sapid one, sometimes slightly hot. In the mouth it feels delicately granular.

How to eat it

How to eat it: alone or in dishes (Soufflé with Raschera).

Recommended wines

Dolcetto d’Alba, Dolcetto di Dogliani, Barbera d’Alba, Verduno Pelaverga.

Production zone

Provinces of Biella, Cuneo, Novara, Torino and Vercelli, and some communes in the provinces of Alessandria and Asti.

Characteristics

Half-cooked cheese made of cow’s milk, fat or half-fat, with half-hard dough.

Shape and dimensions

Cylindric shape, with a diameter of 15 to 35 cm; 6 to 12 cm high. A mould weighs 1,8 to 8 kilos. Elastic and smooth rind, pale yellow or dark red, depending on the kind and the seasoning.

Looks of the dough

It’s pale yellow, soft if the cheese is made of full-fat milk, half-hard if the milk was only half-fat.

History

According to someone, the name Toma comes from the french “Tom “Tomme”, that indicate similar cheeses made in the Savoie.

According to others, it comes from the piemontese “tuma”, that means “fall” (the fall of the caseine in the making of the cheese).

In the “Summa Lacticiniorum” (477) Pantaleone da Confienza wrote a whole chapter about the “Formaggío delle Valli di Lanzo e delle Valli circonvicine”.

Production technique

It’s made of cow’s milk. For the half fat Toma the milk is skimmed. Then it is put in a boiler and warmed up to 32-35°C with veal rennet. After 30-40 minutes it is broken and often warmed up again at 45-48°C. Then it is pressed.

It seasons at least 25 days,

Taste and smell

Delicate milk and cream floavours if the milk was ful fat, intense and fragrant if the milk was half fat. The taste is sweet if the milk was fat, intense and aromatic if the milk was half fat.

How to eat it

Alone.

Recommended wines

Dolcetto d’Alba, Nebbiolo d’Alba, Roero.

Classification

Official classification: Decree 10/05/1993.

Denominazione di Origine Protetta: Reg. (CE) n. 1263 del 01/07/1996.

Territory of production

Photo ©Tom Hyland

The territory of production was delimited for the first time in 1933. It is formed by the town councils of Barbaresco, Treiso, Neive and a part of San Rocco Seno d’Elvio, today part of Alba.Here Nebbiolo, the most prestigious and refined Italian wine-variety, find a perfect environment to grow, only on the sunniest hillsides : East, West and South exposed.

Production zone

Provinces of Cuneo and Torino.

Characteristics

Cheese of cow’s milk, if necessary with ovine and oat’s milk, with soft and raw dough.

Shape and Dimensions

Round, almost flat, with 10-15 cm diameter. Maximum high: 2 cm. It weighs 150 to 300 g, depending on its dimensions. The rind is wrinkled, yellow-white with its characteristic square signs.

Looks of the dough

The dough is compact and yellow in the seasoned moulds; soft and white in the fresh ones.

History

Though its production has started centuries ago, the name Paglierina was created about a century ago by the cheese-firm Quaglia in San Francesco al Campo (Torino).

It comes from the fact that once the cheese was put, for the seasoning, on straw (paglia) grates, that left on its the typical square signs.

Production technique

It is made of cow’s milk (sometimes with a little ovine or oat’s milk), curdled at 38-40°C with rennet.

The mixture is broken in pieces as big as a nut, gathered and left six or seven hours at 25°C.

After having been salted (dry or pickled), the Paglierine season in fresh and humid places for 10-20 days, until the typical white mold appears.

Taste and smell

The fresh moulds have milk flavours, a soft dough and a fresh and delicate taste. The more it is dseasoned, the more the flavours become intense, smelling of hazelnuts and sometimes mushrooms.

How to eat it

Alone.

Recommended wines

Langhe Favorita and Roero Arneis.

Barbaresco DOCG 2008 Gemma

It is subjected to an aging period of at least 2 years (one of them in oak or chestnut barrels) starting from the first day of the year that follows the harvesting. Being high in tannins, this wine can be good preserved for a lot of years, changing only its bouquet (from ripe fruits with spicy hints to the classical goudron with notes of leather, truffle and tobacco), but its class and elegance remain the same.

It is an international wine which is served in the best restaurants of New York and one of the best wines in Italy and in the world. Some people sense that Barbaresco is slightly more “feminine” than Barolo, because of its elegance and delicate aroma, event though it has the same structure and longevity.

The wine we are tasting today is Barbaresco 2008 Gemma, which is ruby red in colour with slight garnet reflexes. Its bouquet is elegant and aristocratic with notes of ripe red fruits, hints of flowers like violet and spices like green pepper and clove.

The taste is dry, warm and velvety, with a very good balance between tannins, acidity and alcohol and a long, persistent finish.

It can be paired with first courses such as tajarin with white truffle or with mushrooms or edible boletus, but it goes also well with roast meats, pot roast, game and aged cheeses.

Serving at 18 degrees.

Fat cheese with fresh dough produced with ovine milk, sometimes 100%, sometimes less, down to 60%, when mixed with cow’s milk.

Shape and dimensions

Cylindric shape with a diametr of 10-15 cm, 3-4 cm high. One mould weighs 300 to 400 grams. Without rind, white if fresh, sometimes light yellow, if seasoned.

Looks of the dough

Soft, slightly consistent, white if fresh, pale yellow if seasoned.

History

Already Plinio the Old, in his “Naturalis Historia” cited Liguria and Cebano while talking of cheese. Bareris says thet Murazzan is probably the most ancient Italian cheese. A doctor from Vercelli, Pantaleone da Confienza in his “Summa Lacticiniorum”, wrote a full chapter about the “Formaggio della Mora”, described as “cheeses called robiole and are small, produced in the land of the marquises of Monferrato and of Carretto and Ceva”.

Production zone

The Murazzano can be produced in all of the “Comunità montana Alta Langa” authority, and in the towns of Bastia Mondovì, Ceva, Castelnuovo Cea, Clavesana, Montezemolo, Priero and Sale San Giovanni.

Production technique

The milk is curdled at 37°C with liquid rennet.

The mix is broken to the size of hazelnuts and put in cylindric boxes with pierced bottom for at least 24 hours. During the seasoning the cheese is quickly washed every day with tepid water. The seasoning lasts 4 to 10 days.

Taste and smell

The fresh and delicate flavors come from the sweetness of ovine milk; the taste is fine, pleasant, sweet in the fresh moulds, more intense and sometimes hot in the seasoned ones.

How to eat it

Alone or in dishes (Salted cake with Murazzano).

Recommended wines

Langhe Chardonnay, Roero Arneis and Dolcetto di Dogliani.

Denominations

Official classification: Presidential Decree, 16/12/1982.

Denominazione di Origine Protetta: Reg. (CE) n. 1263, 01/07/1996.

Wine is a pleasure for smell and taste, establishes a communication, activates conversation and is very suitable to be put together with pleasant and friendly words. It mixes pleasure coming from the eye, the nose, the mouth and the ears. To know how to drink means to know how to hear and talk; and wine has also to be heard, because it talks, in its way. It has a secret language, a kind of soft singing that leads us on hills and cultiveted dreams, to harvests of happiness, to the pure pleasure of contemplation.

Texts from “Barolo as I feel it” by M. Martinelli (ed. Sagittario 1993)