The dark horse of Italy and rarely grown outside Piedmont, this is one of Italy's two great native red varieties - making its famous Barolo and Barbaresco. Read more

The dark horse of Italy and rarely grown outside Piedmont, this is one of Italy's two great native red varieties - making its famous Barolo and Barbaresco. Its thick-skinned grapes need plenty of sunshine to ripen fully and, unless handled with care, make red wines that are inpenetrably tannic when young. The best are long-lived reds alive with scents of truffle, malt and violets and with flavours of rich, tarry, black cherry fruit.