La Spinetta Langhe Nebbiolo 2005
We’ve all seen the studies that demonstrate that people most make their purchasing decisions based on a wine’s label, rather than on knowing anything about its contents. When it comes to this wine, and La Spinetta wines in general, I have to admit that I succumb to this same approach. I love the labels on La Spinetta wines. They’re so attractive in their simplicity, and the label for this wine is a case in point. A deep, dark red paper; a thick black border runs around the label with red-gold letters spelling La Spinetta along each side; and then at the top of the label the year, underneath their characteristic drawing of a rhinocerous (from an Albrecht Durer print), and underneath that the words Langhe Nebbiolo. I even like the font they use. This isn’t a flashy label, but is instead one whose elegant simplicity really grabs me.
I’ve been drawn to their wines since first seeing and tasting their Barbera d’Asti at Amherst Coffee several years ago. With my recent fascination with Piedmont wines and Nebbiolo in particular, when I saw this bottle I decided to give it a shot.
La Spinetta produces their wines uses largely modernized methods. They employ rotofermenters during the 7-8 days of initial fermentation. The rotofermenters draw more color out of the wine in a shorter time than traditional methods of letting the wine ferment in tanks or botti. Following this the wine is transferred to all new medium-toasted French oak where the wine resides for 12 months before being transferred to stainless steel tanks where it rests for 2 months before bottling. These are common methods these days for handling grapes that normally convey a lot of tannin to the wine when produced using traditional methods. Using these methods, the wines obtain deep color and maximum flavor from the grapes while leaving more of the tannin behind. The French oak adds a new dimension to the wine and helps to further soften the tannins.
Needless to say these methods and the wines that they produce generated a lot of controversy in the wine world, and in Piedmont in particular. But realistically speaking these kinds of wine are here to stay, along with the methods that produce them. For two reasons in particular. Firstly, the wines are very approachable young, and often have more depth of flavor (even if some of this depth is made up of flavors drawn from the barrels). Secondly, these methods provide the winemaker with the ability to produce great wines with greater consistency than traditional methods. For instance, there is significantly less risk of oxidation from long fermentation, a flaw which may be remedied to some degree during long aging, but more often simply produces flawed wine.
In the case of La Spinetta’s Langhe Nebbiolo these methods have produced a wine that is very appealing and enjoyable to drink at this relatively young age. The wine is dark, purplish red, somewhat lighter at the rim. The nose is enticing. Vibrant medium-red fruits (currants, plums, raspberries), a hint of reduced sugar syrup, and a thread of vanilla. The palate is rife with bright fruit flavors – raspberries and strawberries. A layer of acidity really makes the flavors sparkle at first sip. These flavors gradually give way to softer, fruit compote flavors. You can definitely taste the effect of the barrels here. Soft, slightly velvety vanilla, strawberries, plums, and cherries combine together to really cote the palate. The flavors here are not as bright, instead that brightness and acidity has given way to very soft flavors. Almost like raspberry flavored whip cream. And these are the flavors that carry through on the medium-length finish, which walks away with the impression of whipped cream, strawberries, and plums, and only the barest hint of acidity.
This wine is a very nice drinking wine. In contrast to the Elio Grasso Langhe Nebbiolo that we tried recently I don’t think that this provides much showcase to the Nebbiolo grape itself. The effect of the barrel-aging is quite strong and I think takes away somewhat from the wine’s performance. I like this wine very much, but I don’t find it to be particularly intriguing or exciting. I don’t think I’m any sort of luddite in terms of wine, ardently favoring traditionalist producers over more modernist ones (see Edward Behr’s articles on wine in Art Of Eating for examples of this approach). But I do find more to value in wines that strive to let the terroir and grape(s) come through in the finished product, despite the inconsistencies, etc., that producing such a wine may entail. While I appreciate the reasoning behind La Spinetta’s production methods, I do believe they serve to somewhat homogenize the final product.
In any event, when I eventually run across a bottle of La Spinetta’s Barbera d’Asti I’ll still not hesitate to pick one up and give it a shot. If nothing else, I still think the labels are just so very.
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