The Nebbiolo Stemware Conundrum

I recently joined an old friend for dinner in Barolo and much to my delight, there was already a bottle of Brovia’s 2015 Barolo Rocche di Castiglione on the table when I arrived. My buddy immediately started lamenting the fact that the wine he ordered, despite bearing the label of one of our favorite producers, was showcasing some of the less desirable attributes of the 2015 vintage. While the harvest definitely yielded some fantastic wines, detractors find many wines display somewhat green tannins and slightly elevated alcohol levels. Upon tasting the wine, I agreed the alcohol felt a bit too high, but the wine’s tannins were ripe and sweet.

I noticed the restaurant had served the wine in Bordeaux glasses and suggested we try it in Burgundy stems as well. Nebbiolo is a tricky varietal because it can combine an intense aromatic quality with vibrant acidity and firm tannins. A narrow glass like a Bordeaux stem rarely gives the wine enough room for those aromatics to blossom and instead accentuates less enjoyable characteristics like alcohol, tannins, and green notes. The Barolo was immediately more pleasurable in the Burgundy glass and continued to improve throughout the meal.

While I almost always serve Nebbiolo in a Burgundy stem, this anecdote is not meant to be a dogmatic monologue. Rather, it is a friendly reminder that the type of wine glass you select does matter, but there is not necessarily only one correct choice. Never be afraid to experiment with different stems to figure out which helps you find the most pleasure in whatever wine you’re drinking at the moment.