It’s a wide, wide world of wine out there and there’s no way to taste it all in many lifetimes. I’m basically resigned to that fact.
But even so, a completionist impulse lurks within the heart of every wine lover. So if I see something novel on a wine list or back bar, you can bet I’m going to order it.
Princi Italia (Plano, TX) has a concise but respectable Italy-focused wine list–but what really keeps me coming back is the after-dinner menu. There are always a few unusual dessert wines on that little card alongside the obligatory Port and Frangelico. Even better, they change them up every so often when these rare bottles inevitably drop out of the supply chain.
While I’m trying to choose between a Vin Santo of Chianti Classico and a Passito di Pantelleria, the bartender offers a third, off-menu option. Have I ever tried a Barolo dessert wine? she asks. It’s new and they haven’t had a chance to put it on the menu or even taste it yet. Why no, I’ve never heard of sweet Barolo–let’s open it!
Fratelli Alessandria is a family-owned winery that has been making wine since 1830 and established their Barolo estate in 1870. They’re best-known for their dry red wines from Nebbiolo.
But I was surprised to learn that sweetened, aromatized red wine can also be bottled under the Barolo DOCG! The regional tradition of Barolo Chinato (“key-NAH-toe”) goes back to the late 1800s.
Before industrialized medicine, homemade herbal concoctions were the popular remedies of the day. Doctors in the remote Langhe hills would prescribe strong infused wines for all manner of complaints, especially seasonal flus and aches. (Nobody’s making medical claims for booze these days, of course. Fratelli Alessandria now markets their Barolo Chinato as a cozy, wintry “meditation wine.”)
The base wine for this Barolo Chinato is 100% Nebbiolo from Fratelli Alessandria’s Verduno estate. To the aged red wine is added a neutral grain spirit that has been macerated with a complex blend of herbs and spices. Fratelli Alessandria’s formula contains 35 different botanicals and every family is said to have their own secret recipe. The wine is then dosed with sugar and put in oak barrels to mellow out for at least another year. Barolo Chinato is never labeled with a vintage, but it is long-lived and can age in bottle for 10-20 years.
A generous pour ($20) fills the air with the scent of roots and spices. In the glass, it’s a deep amber-red. A rich, spicy bouquet of orange peel, cinnamon, menthol, and fresh peppercorn floats above aged-fruit aromas of stewed cherry and prune.
Despite the concentrated, liqueur-like nose, this Barolo Chinato still tastes like wine. (It’s both root-y and fruity!) It even still tastes like Barolo…Nebbiolo’s astringent red berries are highlighted by earthy flavors of rhubarb and red beet. On the mid-palate, it finally gets around to acting like a dessert drink: Full-bodied with moderate sweetness and hints of cardamom, vanilla and almond.
Substantial tannins linger, amplified and accented by a prominent spicy-bitter taste of gentian and quinine root. (Quinine, once a prized import from South America, is known as chincona in Italian and gives Barolo Chinato its name.) After that tannic punch, it settles into a pleasing aftertaste of smooth burdock root, walnut, espresso, and chocolaty oak. It’s technically fortified (to 16.5%), but any alcohol heat is nicely camouflaged by the deft balance of sweetness and bitterness on the finish.
Barolo Chinato is intense and intriguing and I’m glad I tried it! The back of the label is written in metallic ink, Italian and in cursive. But I squint at it long enough to gather that this wine can be served as either an apertivo or digestif and that it is especially recommended to drink it lightly chilled with a piece of dark chocolate.
Even though it’s nominally an after-dinner treat, this wine will be really bitter to most palates when served neat. If sipping an Amaro-esque glass of Barolo is not your thing, you could also use it as a sophisticated mixer in a Negroni or Boulevardier.
Bottle: Fratelli Alessandria Barolo Chinato Vino Aromatizzato (NV) – 500 ml
Variety: Nebbiolo (plus sugar, neutral grain spirit, and 35 secret botanicals)
ABV: 16.5%
Suggested retail: $47.99
My rating: 9.1 (out of 10)
“What Is This Thing?” is a recurring feature on The Wine Fairy, where we taste flavored wines, regional specialties, and other products on the fringe of the wine world. See past entries here.
Review disclosure: I was not compensated or provided any free products for this review. Opinions expressed on The Wine Fairy blog are entirely my own.
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