WTN: Young Barolo and curry

Indulging in a favourite, unorthodox combination tonight: a strong curry and an unspoofy, young Nebbiolo. Tenuta Arnulfo Barolo Campo dei Buoi Costa di Bussia 2004 is, now that it's been reduced from about 40€ to just over 30€, a pretty fair Barolo. It's not great as far as Barolo goes, but it delivers proper Baroloness for far less money than that proper Baroloness can otherwise be had over here. It is quite dark in fruit, not so ethereal and pure as my favourite examples. It is definitely more in the tar than the roses end of the Barolo spectrum. But gladly it sees no small, new wood, only big botti, so I don't see any oak influence in it at all. Nicely savoury but not massively grippy, it even shows a bit of sweetness of fruit. All in all a very serviceable Barolo, very enjoyable though young, but it doesn't seem to have quite the structure to require decades of age.



And the pairing, though apparently only enjoyed by Hugh Johnson (at least in one old guide of his - unless he meant it as a joke!!!) and I, is lovely. I guess there is a bit of a masochistic thing going on that the alcohol and tannin add to the heat, but also that the heat doesn't really morph or obfuscate the aromas: Nebbiolo seems to be one of the few wines in my experience that doesn't suffer from being served with heat. And I have no explanation why this is, so I'm perfectly prepared to admit that it is all in my head, unless someone comes up with a better explanation.

I am both intrigued and afraid of this pairing. I am definitely suspicious of the clash between the curry's heat and the tannin in young Barolo, but I'm willing to give it a shot! The aromatics of the two definitely seem like they could match well, but it's the texture/mouthfeel that'll be the hard sell for me, I think.

Still, on the really spicy curries I think I'll stick to having some nice, soothing raita.