LANGHE

Nebbiola in the Langhe - Part one

You may have heard of Nebbiolo wine, one of the great wines to come out of the Langhe along with Barolo and Barberesco. You may not know, though that Nebbiolo is the Italian for fog, and the vines are named after this because they are not harvested until the first morning fogs of late, late summer. Romantic, no? Its also delicious, and we are lucky enough to know a Nebbiolo vineyard well and be part of its story.

A long time before we bought Costabella, someone I did not then know bought another house not far away from ours. For a few years we must have passed each other at the markets we both frequented without realising. There are not really very many stranieri (strangers) in this part of Italy, its very off the beaten tourist track, so an American and a Brit would have been introduced to each other or at least talked about to each other as a point of enormous interest. As soon as we were introduced, we became firm friends. An American, my friend had a long held dream of owning a vineyard and becoming a wine producer. Would I help? At least with the vineyard? Of course, what a dream!!

And so a 6 month season began for us, not for the vineyard, that’s much longer, but for our part in it. We turned up when summoned, or when we were able, to work on 3000 vines on not so gently sloping land under the shadow of Mont Viso, the tallest peak in the Maritime Alps. The Langhe stretched out beneath us and the clear blue sky arked above. It was always fun and there was always an excellent lunch.

First, some land clearing…given, not as romantic as we had thought, but we got involved happily, rolling the piles of last years clippings down the hills to the compost before the grass around them could reclaim them. The children had tremendous fun doing this, but my friend and I were careful to keep a few back. They make excellent kindling and also burn a very bright and intense fire, perfect for roasting small birds like quail over, which are plentiful in the Langhe at this time of year.

Spatchcocked quail cooked over vineclippings, served with last years Mosto Cotto

Light a fire in a barbeque in the normal way, with coals and wood. Whilst you wait for the coals to turn from furnace red to an ashy white heat, take one quail for 2 people and with a pair of kitchen scissors, snip out the breastbone and press the bird flat. Its now ready to cook and can be treated much the same as chicken.

Once your quail is prepared and your fire established, take a bottle of Mosto Cotto, which is a sweet and tangy grape reduction, the stage before it becomes Balsamic. Brush your quail genorously with the intensely shiny syrup and scatter with thyme leaves and a generous smattering of salt and pepper.

Throw your vine clippings into the fire and watch the bright heat flare. Taking care, put your quail on the grill over the flames. The vine clippings produce a shortlived flame, enough to both caramelise the syrup on the bird and to char and crisp its skin, but not enough to burn. The flame will only last a few minutes and then you can leave your quail to cook over the coals as you would a chicken. They are small though, and it doesn’t matter if the flesh retains a pinkness, so much less finicky than chicken. Don’t bother with plates, just suck the flesh from the bones barefisted, the crisp and tangy sweetness a satisfying thing, knowing you wouldn’t have that flavour without your hard work.

The land cleared and with other willing helpers to keep on top of the weeding, we didn’t return until the new shoots on the vines had well and truely established and were vigourously climbing up the supports and all over each other. Our next job was to