Pairings with Nebbiolo and Arneis from Chiesa Carlo

Piedmont is home to many great wine appellations and fantastic indigenous grapes produced in a variety of styles dependent upon each individual terroir.  Today we explore the southern sub-region of Alba, specifically a couple of appellations within the Cuneo province, Nebbiolo d’Alba DOC and the Roero DOCG featuring wines from Azienda Agricola Chiesa Carlo. 

The winery 

Azienda Agricola Chiesa Carlo is located in Santo Stefano of the Roero.  The winery was founded in the 1700’s and is operated today by the 5th generation of the Chiesa family.  Their vineyards occupy about 20 acres of sandy soils.  They’re known for producing quality DOC and DOCG wines practicing sustainability and working with indigenous yeasts. 

The appellations 

Nebbiolo d’Alba DOC – To be labeled with this DOC designation the wines must contain 100% nebbiolo and age for at least 1 year.  The area spans both sides of the Tanaro River around Alba and the hills of the Roero.    The wines produced here are more approachable compared to the nebbiolo in the nearby Langhe (Barolo and Barbaresco).  Plus, they are also more affordable and allow one to experience many similar characteristics with less boldness and structure.   

Roero DOCG – Nebbiolo and Arneis are the key stars in the Roero.  This appellation was upgraded to DOCG status in 2004.  Arneis is a native white grape variety that mostly calls the Roero home dominating the plantings.  This grape almost faced extinction in the 60’s.  It’s a challenging grape to grow due to poor yields and achieving the correct ripeness balanced with acidity.  The wines labeled Roero Arneis DOCG must be made of at least 95% arneis.   

The wines 

2013 Chiesa Manascarda Nebbiolo d’Alba - 100% Nebbiolo grown on south to south east facing slopes with sandy soils.  The grapes are manually picked spending 20 days of maceration and 12 months in big oak.  A very transparent, pale garnet colored wine.  Heavy notes of black licorice on the nose and cherries.  Medium bodied, cherry notes with good acidity.  Tannins present towards the finish lending vanilla, tobacco and cedar notes. 14.5% ABV 

The pairing: I paired this Nebbiolo d’Alba with some tasty Italian sausage stuffed four cheese ravioli from Trader Joes.   A wonderful complement to one another.   

2015 Chiesa Quin Roero Arneis DOCG – 100% Arneis grown on sandy soils south east facing.  The grapes are softly pressed with low temperature fermentation.  It then spends 6 months in stainless steel vats.  This wine is bright straw colored with a tinge of green.  Stone fruit on the nose.  Lively, bright acidity right up front.  A dry, medium-bodied wine with good texture.  Notes of apple, pear, almond and minerality are present with the higher alcohol of 14% lending some warmth.   

The pairing: I paired this Arneis with baked stuffed haddock.  The flavors and texture of the wine went well with the ritz cracker crumb topping.

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*The wines were provided as samples, but opinions are all my own.  Importer: Mariposa Fine Wines

Sparkle your Valentine's Day with Brachetto of the Roero with Demarie

Valentine's Day is this month and I'm sure everyone's well aware as the stores quickly move out all the Christmas items and start marketing the next holiday so quickly.  Personally I've always believed it's one of those holidays that is more for retail than anything else, but in light of the holiday I'm going to get your brain going on an idea for some bubbly to add some fun to this years Valentine's Day whether you're celebrating it with a loved one, friends or just alone.  There is nothing like hearing the cork pop on a bottle of wine or bubbly to get an evening started.

Sparkling wines from Italy, mostly prosecco, have really increased in being imported to the United States over the years.  It's usually one of the first things you think of when you think of sparkling wines in Italy.  There are other options as well including Franciacorta of the Lombardy region that rivals the champagnes of France and also you can go for Moscato d'Asti and Brachetto d'Acqui of the Piedmont region.   Today we're going to focus on the brachetto grape with a wine from the Demarie winery of Piedmont that I received from Uva Imports. 

What is brachetto?
Brachetto is a red and very aromatic grape that can be find as a still wine or sparkling mostly in the Piedmont region.  You typically see it labeled as frizzante or spumante.  Frizzante means slightly sparking where spumante is sparkling.  Within Piedmont it’s mostly produced in the towns and areas of the Roero, where the Demarie winery is, as well as Asti and Acqui.    

The Demarie winery in the area of the Roero of Piedmont I've written about previously on my blog when I've sampled through some of their other wines, but today I'm sharing with you their sparkling wine called Birbet, which is a Brachetto d’Alba.  It's a sparkling rose based 100% on the brachetto grape.    With only 6.5% alcohol by volume this wine can be the perfect way to end your meal, especially paired with chocolate.  I have a sweet tooth myself and if you’re full from your meal it’s sometimes nice to finish with a dessert wine such as this that is a lighter style dessert wine and refreshing than some of the other unctuous dessert wines you may have tried before.  

What to pair Brachetto with?
Demarie recommends pairing this wine with dry pastries or hazelnut cake. Any sort of dessert with strawberries and/or raspberries topped with some rich cream.  It pairs really well with chocolate covered strawberries too.  

Plus, check out this amazing Walnut Tart receipe I've made in the past that was simply delicious with Brachetto.

You can find wines made from the brachetto grape in hopefully many of your local wine shops so get out there and pick up a bottle of this sparkling wine this Valentine's Day.  Even if you have someone on your list who isn’t a big wine drinker they may be surprised to enjoy this wine because of the lower alcohol levels and higher amount of residual sugars so it may be more appealing to someone with a sweeter tooth.  

Plus, Demarie is one of the participating wineries in a Piedmont Wine Giveaway: 12 bottles of wine in Lazenne wine luggage.  Who doesn't love free stuff, nevermind wine bottles from Italy?

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Don't stop there!  There are lots more Valentine Day pairings for you to consider this weekend.   Plus, join our live chat on Twitter Saturday February 13th at 11am @ #winepw.  See you then!

Jade from Tasting Pour:

– Love Letter Pastries and Brandborg Winery Pinot Noir

-Cherry Hazelnut Scones

Jeff from Food Wine Click - Perfect Wine for a Sparkling Valentine’s Day Celebration

Martin of Enofylz Wine Blog – Valentine’s Surf and Turf with a Twist and Champagne Pairing

Nancy from Pull That Cork – Shepherd’s Pie and Burgundy: A Cozy Valentine’s Day Pairing

Kirsten of The Armchair Sommelier – My Squashy Valentine

Jennifer from Vino Travels – Sparkle Your Valentine’s Day with Brachetto from the Roero with Demarie

David of Cooking Chat –

-Cauliflower Kale Soup paired with Pinot

-Sweet Strawberry Cream with Chocolate and Wine Pairing

Michelle from Rockin Red Blog – Valentine’s Day in the South of France with #WinePW

Sarah from Curious Cuisiniere – Gougeres (French Cheese Puffs) and Blanquette de Limoux

Cindy from Grape Experiences:

- A Valentine’s Gift: Elegant Anaba Wines

-Cava and Crave Worthy Chocolate Cookies for Valentine’s Day

Lori from Draceana Wines – Need a Valentine’s Wine? As You Wish.

Diana from Wine Pass shares - Valentine Risotto and Rich Chocolate Beet Cake with Brachetto d’Acqui

Valerie of Girls Gotta Drink - A Moscato Food Pairing: Moscato for Breakfast Anyone?

Wendy from A Day in the Life on A Farm - Asian Tuna and Noodles with Rodney Strong Pinot Noir

Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla :

-Cherry-Glazed Chicken with Hahn’s Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir

-Barley Stuffed Acorn Squash & Zesty Crayfish with Landmark Vineyards’ Overlook Chardonnay

-Wild Boar Mushroom Pot Pies with Landmark Vineyards’ Overlook Pinot Noir

-Seared Venison Medallions with Justin’s Cabernet Sauvignon

-Rosé-Cured Salmon with Balletto Vineyards’ Brut Rosé

-Epoisses, Crackers, & Cremant de Limoux

Christy from Confessions of a Culinary Diva:

-Valentine’s Day Steakhouse Dinner at Home

-50 Oysters a Day & Other Tales of Seduction

-Pick a Picpoul de Pinet for Your Valentine

-Valentine’s Take-In Dinner

-Apple of My Eye Pork Chops & Pinot

-Lobster, Corn Fritters & Balletto

Join us for a live Valentine's Wine Pairing Twitter chat at 11 a.m. ET on Saturday, February 13, using the hashtag #winePW. And get ready for the March #winePW, where we will share our Open That Bottle Night experiences. Check out the upcoming and past Wine Pairing Weekend events on this page.

Nebbiolo wines of the Langhe and Roero with Demarie

A blogging friend of mine, Valerie from Girls Gotta Drink, that I finally got to meet in person in Verona earlier this year in February, is building her business in Piedmont. She not only does wine tours in Piedmont, but is representing wineries and promoting their products and building their brands and presence throughout the world. I was honored to receive some samples of the Azienda Agricola Demarie winery located in the Piedmont region.

The Demarie winery, owner by Paolo Demarie, is located in Vezza d'Alba, which is part of the Roero district. Their vineyards are spread out across 20 hectacres (50 acres) in the towns of Vezza, Guarene, Castellinaldo and Castagnito. The Demarie winery is run by 3 generations.

Paolo, owner of Azienda Agricola Demarie, by Valerie Quintinilla

Luckily many of the wines I received were focused on the nebbiolo grape, one of my favorites. I have more to share in the upcoming months, but today wanted to highlight two of the Demarie nebbiolo wines and do a comparison of them:

• 2013 Demarie Langhe Nebbiolo

• 2012 Demarie Nebbiolo d'Alba

As you all know terroir is one of the major factors in the result of a final wine in addition to the choices made by a winemaker inside the production facilities when it comes to fermentation and aging methods. Piedmont is one of those regions in Italy where terroir is so important, especially in the cru sites of Barolo and Barbaresco, as it produces many different styles of nebbiolo. Nebbiolo expresses itself throughout the rest of Piedmont in many different styles. These two wines are from the Langhe DOC and Nebbiolo d'Alba DOC.

The Langhe DOC
The Langhe DOC encompasses the areas north and south of the town of Alba. Many grape varieties are produced in this area and it's considered the fallback DOC of the DOCG of Barolo, Barbaresco and Roero. Therefore, producers that label with the DOC have less stringent regulations and more flexibility.

The Nebbiolo d'Alba DOC
The Nebbiolo d'Alba DOC on the other hand must be made of 100% nebbiolo. This is a much more affordable wine with many of the typical characteristics of nebbiolo. It's aged only a year in comparison to the DOCG versions aged 2+ years depending upon which DOCG we are talking about. If you've never had a nebbiolo grape this would be a good place to start to experience it before moving on to the some of the big boys of the region.\

2012 Demarie Nebbiolo d'Alba 
Made of 100% nebbiolo grapes.  This wine goes through malolactic fermentation in large slavonian oak casks for 8 months followed by 8 months in the bottle. Deeper ruby red in color with a hint of licorice on the nose. A medium body with dark fruit with more present tannin and balanced acidity. It's recommended by Demarie to be aged up to 5 years. ABV 14.5%.

2013 Demarie Langhe Nebbiolo 
Made of 100% nebbiolo grapes.  A brilliant ruby red, it's a medium bodied wine with juicy red fruit and a mouthwatering acidity. Drying tannin on the finish.  A more delicate wine compared to the Nebbiolo d'Alba.  

Wine pairing with Nebbiolo

From time to time I will write about wines to pair with your meals, but I just as much enjoy sitting there with a bottle of wine and enjoying some delicious appetizers. And of course I'll always look up regional foods to pair with the bottle of wine that I choose to drink that night. Cured meats are always a great pairing in Italy with many of the reds so I chose salami as one of the appetizers that paired well with the 2013 Demarie Langhe Nebbiolo. 

I found the Langhe Nebbiolo much more approachable in its youth. The other dish I prepared was bruschetta topped with gorgonzola and walnuts drizzled with honey. Very typical ingredients of the region and paired well with the 2012 Demarie Nebbiolo d'Alba. The Nebbiolo d'Alba's tannins were very present in the wine and I felt the creaminess of the gorgonzola helped to cut through some of that.

It's all about playing around with pairings and finding what you like. I hope you get to sample nebbiolo for yourself if you haven't yet. If you have, what are some of your favorite areas of Piedmont for nebbiolo and any favorite pairings?

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Arneis through the eyes of Malvira in the Roero

This Wine Pairing Weekend (#winepw) on wine and food pairings with arneis is right up my alley, not only because the focus is on this Italian white grape from Piedmont, but also because in the last month I just had the opportunity to meet one of the charming owners and winemaker, Roberto Damonte, of the Malvira winery in the Roero of Piedmont. I'll very rarely pass up an opportunity to meet an Italian winemaker visiting the Boston area if I can help it. They always have such great stories to tell and information to share.

Me with Roberto Damonte, Owner of Malvira winery in the Roero of Piedmont

The Malvira winery
The Malvira winery began in the 1950's when Roberto's father started the winery. The name stems from the word "mal" meaning badly and "vira" meaning situated.  The winery used to be north facing, obviously being a bad situation for a winery as the most ideal conditions for grape growing are south facing.  Roberto and his brother Massimo took over the winery in 1974 and their mission was to focus more on quality than the quantity of wines that were being produced previously. Malvira produces organic wines on 104 acres across 6 vineyard sites with about 380,000 annually. 

Azienda Agrizola Malvira - copyright www.Malvira.com

Malvira produce a variety of Italian grapes including barbera, nebbiolo, birbet and favorita, but its their arneis that they pride themselves on. Their arneis vines are 40-45 years of age,which lend to lower yields with higher quality grapes.  The arneis grape itself translates to “little rascal”.  Fortunately arneis was saved and is one of the most widely planted white grapes in Piedmont as it was facing extinction in the 20^th century.

The two arneis wines I sampled from Malvira were the the 2012 Malvira Roero Arneis and the 2009 Malvira Roero Arneis Trinita.  The '12 Malvira Roero Arneis DOCG is a blend of the different vineyard sites of the Malvira winery that is aged 4-8 months in stainless steel.  The '09 Malvira Vigna Trinita DOCG is a single vineyard that is aged 90% in stainless steel for 6 months with 10% of the juice aged in French oak for 6 months.  My personal preference was for the 2012 Malvira Roero Arneis as I appreciated the crisp, clean, ripe fruit with minerality opposed to the Trinita, named after the small church at the top of the vineyard, that had a hint of oak and more tropical flavors.

The Roero
The Roero is located in the southern part of Piedmont known as the Langhe, but is further within the Cuneo province.  According to Malvira's website the Roero is named after the Conti-Roero family that lived there in the 14th century.  What's unique about the Roero is that prior to 1000 A.D. this area of Piedmont was covered by the sea so it's not uncommon to come across sea fossils from ancient seabeds within the vineyards themselves.  

Copyright of Federdoc

Food pairing with Arneis
In deciding a food pairing with arneis it brought me to the idea of using the fresh vegetables that I just got this week from my  CSA farmshare.  I have always grown my own large garden, but last year we had a little mischievous critter, woodchucks, that ate all my produce so this year I decided to give the CSA a shot and hopefully the woodchuck will venture off without a year of the fruits of my labor.  He sure had a big belly at the end of the season I must say.

I chose to pair with the Arneis a recipe from David's new cookbook of Cooking Chat, the original founder of our #WinePW.  He just recently published his first book Collards and Kale and I thought it was a great opportunity to test out one of the recipes by using his Creamy Penne with Kale and Mushrooms recipe.  I made some adjustments to the recipe. I'm always looking to boost up my protein intake so I chose to add some sliced chicken into the recipe.  The healthy alternative was a 1/2 pack of silken tofu, but my experience with tofu so far hasn't been to my liking so I choose to use a olive oil garlic sauce instead.  Lastly, fusilli is my favorite pasta so I was in the mood for that this week.

Fusilli with Kale and Mushrooms
 

Ingredients

1 pound of fusilli
1 onion chopped
12 oz of mushrooms sliced
Head of kale
1/2 tsp of rosemary
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp of parsley
Sliced chicken or sausage
fresh grated parmesan for serving
sea salt and pepper to taste

Preparations

• On low heat, heat up olive oil in pan and add minced garlic along with a sprinkle of sea salt.  In meantime boil pot of water for pasta adding salt to the pot.
• After a few minutes add chopped onions to garlic and olive oil.  Cook until onions begin to go clear and soften.
• Add mushrooms and cook until softened.
• Chop kale and begin to add to the mushroom, onion and olive oil mixture.  Add rosemary, additional salt and pepper to taste.  Cover ingredients and simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes
• Saute chicken or sausage in separate pan in a couple tablespoons of olive oil
• Add pasta once water has begun to boil and prepare until dictated time.
• Once pasta and chicken are fully cooked, add both to saute pan with other ingredients and mix together. Upon serving top with fresh grated parmesan cheese.

 

Food and Wine Pairing with Arneis
The Arneis was a nice complement to the Fusilli with Kale and Mushrooms.  I felt that the citrus and crisp acidity of the wine paired well with the slight bitterness of the kale along with the other components of this dish.  I think if this dish had a creaminess to it as the original recipe had it would still be a nice choice.   

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June Wine Pairing Weekend Round-up: More Summer Arneis Food Pairing Recipes!

We'll be talking about Arneis and summer wine pairings later today during our Twitter chat at 11:00 ET by following the hashtag #WinePW.

• Esplorando Arneis con #WinePW, Dracaena Wines
• A Summer Arneis Food Pairing: BBQ Chicken in a Citrus Butter Curry Sauce, GirlsGottaDrink
• Spaghetti alla Carbonara for #SummerOfArneis #WinePW, Curious Cuisiniere
• Kale Pesto Tortellini Paired with Arneis, Cooking Chat
• Shrimp and Fennel Risotto with Arneis, FoodWineClick
• Heritage Grain Risotto with Roero Arneis, Wine Pass
• Damilano Langhe Arneis Paired with Dungeness Crab and Pea Purée Crostini, Pull That Cork
• Maltagliati con Sugo dei Porri e Trotte alla Salvia, Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Italian Arneis Wine for #WinePW (yum - linguini and clam sauce!), A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Summer of Arneis on #WinePW, Rockin Red Blog
• Shrimp and Cheese Grits with Vietti Arneis, Enofylz Wine Blog
• Shrimp, Fennel, Fava Bean Pasta with Vietti Arneis, Tasting Pour

Wine Pairing Weekend July: Join us next month!

In July Americans celebrate Independence Day and the French celebrate Bastille Day. July's Wine Pairing Weekend will take place on Saturday, July 11, led by Michelle Williams of Rockin Red Blog. The group will explore food and wine pairings from the United States and France. Get creative and make your favorite all American food and wine meal, your favorite all French food and wine meal, one of each or a combination of both! With these two regions the sky is the limit!

 
Source: Malvira Winery