Ideal Weather For Growing Nebbiolo?

It’s a subject I’ve broached previously, but about which I continue to wonder. I’ve understood that conventional wisdom says that Nebbiolo thrives with cooler temperatures and filtered sunshine. But what I find perplexing is that two giants seem to be diametrically opposite in their thinking: G. Conterno choosing to make Monfortino in cool, wet vintages and not in hotter ones, and Giacosa making Riservas in hotter years but not in other vintages generally regarded as excellent. It is a puzzlement.

Michael
It’s an interesting conundrum.
I think we ourselves may differ in what we would perceive as ideal with me leaning towards the cooler vintages and you towards the warmer ones? However what we have with those two producers is people who are very much more impassioned by what they believe to be ‘best’. It’s their job, so they will have a strong opinion, but perhaps being Italian makes them even more passionate, prepared to make as strong a statement as they can. With Giacosa there is the added complication of Bruno’s health and his seemingly complex/strained professional relationship with his long-time winemaker. It almost feels like points are being made that are as much about the people as the wine.

I do struggle a bit to follow the decisions of Produttori del Barbaresco in terms of riserva declarations. There are not many who would say 2005 is more suitable for reserve bottlings than 2006, yet that was their decision. The only explanation that makes some sense of the decisions, is the aim that they will bottle each riserva or none at all, so if one or two struggled, but the rest were exceptionally good, then it all gets blended into the normale.

regards
Ian

p.s. FWIW Wet vintages are generally not ideal, though the thick skin on nebbiolo grapes does help protect against rot. That said, there were quite a few blue-green leaves in the vineyards in early October this year, indicating that there was Bordeaux solution (copper sulphate and slaked lime) being sprayed to prevent fungal infection / rot.

In reality most winemakers would snatch your hand off if you offered them a long growing season with no significant temperature spikes, some good day/night variation in temperature and ‘just enough’ rain at intervals throughout the season, with a gentle breeze after the rain. Throw in fine weather around flowering and no late frosts in spring and you’d be on their xmas card list!

regards
Ian

Piemonte’s weather is quite warm in terms of heat accumulation (about the same as Avignon). But this does not mean that the daily high is extreme. Instead the warmth comes from a very small diurnal (difference between daily high and nightly low). Piemonte’s warm nights are critical to properly ripening Nebbiolo. Warm mights help to decrease Nebbiolo’s high acidity and keep sugar levels moderate.

Now on to personal opinion! I prefer the cooler years (but words like “cool” don’t explain much). In looking at the climate for the years that I enjoy the most, there are often a couple of conditions. The vintages are warm enough (particularly in the summer) to properly ripen the tannins but cool or at least mild in the final few weeks.

A good example of the points above can be found in the 2010 vintage. 2010 had fairly normal temps through June. July was 2-3F warmer than usual and the following months (Aug-Oct) were well below normal.

Kevin, based on what you described: What are the vintages you prefer?
Edit: In addition to 2010?

Edit2: FWIW several winemakers in the region have told me Barbera is better with very small diurnal, while Nebbiolo should have cooler nights ideally. I’m guessing they’re right within their context of an area where diurnal is small?

Kevin
Ta for this insight - I wasn’t aware of this, so trotted out the usual ‘good diurnal variation’ line, which I hadn’t realised wasn’t as desirable as it normally is in other regions.
regards
Ian

Kevin,

what are good sources for wine region climate data?

Thanks

You can’t read anything into the Produttori’s choices about vintages. But Aldo Vacco has been quite open about the reason. First, I believe the all-crus-or-no-crus rule isn’t just an aim but a rule of the coop. At the least, within the coop politics it’s not practical to bottle some but not others, he told me ten years or so ago, referring to 1998.

Second, he has explained that the choice not to bottle the single crus in some years, like 2006, was a function of inventory: There were simply too many bottles of unsold single-cru wine in the pipeline.

Geir,
Of recent vintages I prefer 2001, 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010.

Edit2: FWIW several winemakers in the region have told me Barbera is better with very small diurnal, while Nebbiolo should have cooler nights ideally. I’m guessing they’re right within their context of an area where diurnal is small?

Yes, The way most people describe weather needs to be taken in the proper context. Words like cool and warm can mean different things to different people. I would guess the smaller diurnal for Barbera helps lower the very high acidity.

It has been extremely hard (at least for me) to get good climate data for Piemonte. Mine comes from a viticultural consultant in the region and is an summary of data recorded in a vineyard in Monforte.

The weather in 1989, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2006 and 2010 seemed pretty good to me.

I believe the diurnals in Burgundy, Bordeaux, and Piedmonte are very similar at around 20°F, By comparison the diurnal in Napa Valley ranges from 30°F in Napa to 38°F in Calistoga. RRV varies from 30 to 35°F but I think it falls closer to 20° in those California growing regions that are very close to the coast (Santa Cruz, SRH, and true Sonoma Coast).

John Gladstones, the Australian viticulturist, in his very interesting book “Wine, Terroir and Climate Change” examines a number of different temperature effects on vine growth rates and proposes that lower diurnals increase the rate of vegetative growth, but have no effect on ripening rate. I have no idea if this might be true.

I suspect Napa and RRV wineries tout their high diurnals because that’s what they have to live with, and if they didn’t have low night temps to offset high day temps their grapes would be ripe shortly after veraison. I haven’t been able to find any research info on the effect of diurnal on wine quality but, IIRC, Kevin strongly believes low diurnal is good. It’s certainly interesting that the best European growing regions all seem to have low diurnals in common.

When the heck is Rhys gonna grow some Nebbiolo?? :wink: