Nebbiolo

Also called Spanna, Chiavennasca, Prunent, Michet

The first of the Piedmont grapes to wake, ten days or so ahead of Barbera, and among the last to be picked. It crops unevenly: a kind spring brings a full year, a cold or wet one a thin harvest. The bunches are long and winged, the berries violet under a heavy bloom, their skins thin but tough and full of tannin. Alone in Barolo and Barbaresco it gives a garnet wine, dry and full-bodied, with a scent all its own.