The ultimate A-Z of grapes: N

Three Italians under N. 

Nebbiolo

The Nebbiolo is one of the most important wine grape varieties of Italy’s Piedmont region. The grape is used to make wines such as Barolo, Barbaresco, Gattinara, Ghemme and Nebbiolo.

These lightly coloured red wines can be massively tannic in youth with intriguing scents of tar and roses. As they age, the wines take on a characteristic brick-orange hue at the rim of the glass and mature to reveal complex aromas and flavours (violets, tar, wild herbs, cherries, raspberries, truffles, tobacco, prunes).

These wines often take years to become approachable as they require ageing to tame the tannins from the grapes

Negroamaro

A red wine grape variety native to southern Italy. It is grown almost exclusively in Puglia and particularly in Salento. Wines made from Negroamaro tend to be very rustic in character, combining perfume with an earthy bitterness. The grape produces some of the best red wines of Puglia, particularly when blended with the highly scented Malvasia Nera, as in the case of Salice Salentino.

Nero d’Avola

The most important red wine grape in Sicily and is one of Italy’s most important indigenous varieties. It is named after Avola in the far south of Sicily and its wines are compared to New World Shiraz, with quite sweet tannins with plummy, peppery flavours/