From: Piedmont, Italy
Varietal: Nebbiolo
Taste: The 2019 Reverdito Langhe Nebbiolo Simane is a beautiful wine with a bright garnet color and a fragrant aroma of wild berries and violets. On the palate, it is packed with fresh red fruit and medium acidity, with notes of sweet herbs. The tannins are firm but approachable, providing a good backbone to the wine. As the wine opens up, it reveals a complex aroma of crushed flowers, dried red cherries, mint, chalk, and tobacco. Elegant, lifted, and gracious, this is a great entry-level offering from Reverdito that showcases the best of Langhe Nebbiolo.
Pairing: This gorgeous, long-lived (we had it open for 3 days and it kept getting better) Langhe Nebbiolo is a versatile wine that pairs well with a variety of dishes. The wine's acidity and tannins make it a perfect match for rich and savory meat dishes, while its fresh red fruit flavors make it an excellent choice for lighter meals as well. Here are some pairing suggestions:
Roast chicken with garlic and herbs
Grilled lamb chops with rosemary
Mushroom risotto
Beef stew with root vegetables
Grilled or roasted meats, such as lamb or beef
Meaty pasta dishes, such as lasagna or spaghetti bolognese
Braised beef or veal with polenta or polenta with wild mushrooms (see below for recipe)
Brasato al Barolo (beef braised in Barolo wine)
Wild boar stew
Tajarin pasta with truffle butter sauce
Grilled portobello mushrooms
Eggplant parmesan
Risotto with mushrooms and parmesan cheese
Lentil and mushroom shepherd's pie
Spinach and ricotta stuffed pasta shells
The natural acidity and tannins of the Langhe Nebbiolo Simane complement the rich flavors of grilled or roasted meats, making it an excellent choice for a hearty dinner. For a regional pairing, try a braised beef or veal dish with polenta to highlight the earthy and spicy flavors of the wine. For a vegetarian pairing, grilled portobello mushrooms or eggplant parmesan would be an excellent match, bringing out the wine's notes of sweet herbs and crushed flowers.
Creamy Polenta With Mushrooms
Recipe from Chris Jaeckle
Adapted by Sam Sifton
“Over the years, experimentation in the cellar, professional curiosity and the evolution of my palate led me to develop my personal taste. Nowadays I am aware that the traits of my ideal wine are elegance, refinement and recognizability, which are the distinctive features of Nebbiolo, our most indigenous grape variety, vinified in the absolutely traditional way.”- Michele Reverdito
If you're a fan of Italian wines, especially those made from the Nebbiolo grape, then you'll definitely want to try the 2019 Reverdito Langhe Nebbiolo Simane. This wine comes from the lesser-known town of La Morra, located in northern Italy, and is produced by Michele Reverdito, a rising star winemaker in the Barolo region. Despite the lesser notoriety of his vineyards, Michele Reverdito has gained recognition for his meticulous viticulture, very late harvest, and purity of traditional cellar technique that results in spectacularly fragrant, dark, deep Barolos.
The Langhe Nebbiolo Simane is hand-harvested and fermented in temperature-controlled stainless without the addition of yeasts or enzymes. It is then aged in traditional 1,000-liter barrels, none of them new. The result is a bright garnet-colored wine with aromas of wild berries and violets, and a palette packed with fresh red fruit, medium acidity, and tannins with notes of sweet herbs. It is a real crowd pleaser and perfect for elevating red meat dishes.
Michele Reverdito's winery in La Morra was established in 2000 and is managed by him and his sister Sabine, who is the head winemaker. The winery has 22 hectares of vineyards that are farmed sustainably without the use of invasive chemicals or elements that could pollute the land, the groundwater or the environment. Michele cultivates his vineyards with the utmost care, allowing each grape to express its most authentic nature and terroir of provenance, giving rise to seven Barolo labels, each with profoundly diverse features.
The Reverdito winery's production philosophy is based on two important prerequisites: optimal work in the vineyard, which results in bunches of grapes of exceptional quality, and the use of large vats and barrels (40 and 50 hectolitres) of the highest quality. Each of the seven Nebbiolo for Barolo cru is vinified separately and differently, according to the distinctive traits and characteristics of the vineyard of provenance.
The Langhe Nebbiolo Simane is produced from a little over two hectares of 20- to 25-year-old Nebbiolo vines planted on pure limestone. Crushed flowers, dried red cherries, mint, chalk, and tobacco are all beautifully delineated in this wine. Elegant, lifted, and gracious, this is a great entry-level offering. Langhe Nebbiolo is the baby brother of Barolo, made in a younger and more approachable style, whilst maintaining many of the wonderful characteristics of Barolo. This Langhe Nebbiolo from Michele Reverdito is produced from the Barolo vineyards of San Giacomo and could be classified as such, however, Michele considers the soil to have too much clay to produce Barolo.
