Yet in a blind tasting with seasoned Italy drinkers everybody guessed first either Barolo or Barbaresco when it was a 1970 Mastroberardino. Extremely Nebbiolo-like, down to the clear and quite translucent garnet red color.
Freisa (closely related) can be very much like a nebbiolo based wine however a bit “wilder” and slightly less polished. They can be great.
Otherwise xinomavro can resemble Nebbiolo quite a bit with time though I found quite often a more tomato like profile (maybe less fruits profile).
Texturally I have had Etna Rosso that to some extent can have similarities.
While I love the Friulian red grapes Pignolo (doubt Tazzelenghe) does not have any similarities with Nebbiolo. Schioppettino have the elegance, balance and possibility to transform and change like a Barolo, however the peppery tones pulls a bit to N.Rhone as well.
Well, stylistically older (+40 yo) Ramisco and older Carema (+40 yo) start to share some similarities, being light in body, low in alcohol, high in acidity, showing quite a bit of tannic grip and fruit department leaning heavily on tart red fruits like lingonberries and fresh cranberries. However, a younger Colares and a Nebbiolo from Langhe really are quite distinct from each other and I really don’t see much similarities between them.
Somehow I doubt the original poster is thinking about 50 year old bottles. For more recent vintages, I’m in the camp that Aglianico is fairly far away from Nebbiolo, except in high-acid food friendly character.
I’m surprised that nobody has said Pinot Noir. Nebbiolo and Pinot can share a lot of these structural characteristics (weightlessness, aromatics, good acid balance, tannin) if not specific flavors or smells. The problem though is that there are many many different expressions of Pinot, lots of which are very different from Nebbiolo. I’d mostly look in Burgundy for similarities, especially in less pricey areas to start experimenting (Fixin, Mercurey, Gevrey). Or Chambolle if price is less an issue.
The fruit department in a 40+ year-old Colares and 40+ year-old Carema leaning heavily on lingonberries and fresh cranberries? Whatever it is you were having, I want some of that too
Only had a couple of young Carema, and for me they were very far off from a younger Ramisco. Struggle to see them becoming similar but sounds like a tasting theme coming up
I find Colares having a quite different density, rather far off from Nebbiolo based wines that I have had. Velvety tannins at +40 years, can imagine that similarity, though guess that goes for many other wines that can age well (built with tannins as a component).
Gathered as much. However, it’s just what I’ve tasted and I happen to rely on my own taste more than on anybody else’s. Even in my quite recent Colares vertical tasting thread I commented on at least one if not several how the aged Ramiscos start to remind me more and more of aged cooler-climate Nebbiolos. I don’t really see what’s so weird about it - as the more distinguishing primary nuances have faded and the wine starts to become more tertiary, the wines can get - at least to me - strikingly similar, both aromatically and texturally.
But what style of Nebbiolo are you comparing them to now? A Carema from the 1960’s or 1970’s is from another world compared to a Nebbiolo from the Langhe region from the 2010’s.
And I wouldn’t necessarily call the tannins “velvety”. Of course some wines and some vintages might show beautifully resolved, silky tannins, but in other wines and vintages the tannins can be still surprisingly tough and gritty, both in Carema and Colares. And when it comes to density and texture, both old Colares and Carema are surprisingly similar: from the lighter end of the spectrum, noticeably high in acidity, low in alcohol and delicate - as opposed to concentrated or extracted.
So, the conclusion is that Nebbiolo and Ramisco can be very similar if the following conditions are met: a) the respective wines are at least about a hundred years old, b) the nebbiolo is a Carema?
Because my original claim was that the wines need to be +40 yo and the Nebbiolo needs to be from a cooler climate, i.e. some older Alto Piemonte or Valtellina wines would fit, too!
For example some older Gattinaras from cooler vintages I’ve tasted have been quite similar to older Carema wines - so, by extension, somewhat similar to older Colares wines, too.
And I’m still not saying the wines are identical to each other! Just sharing multiple different characteristics with each other.
As I mentioned, no experience with aged Carema wines. My reference points goes to 90s, 00s and 10s for barolo and barbaresco wines. Had a couple of Barolo wines from the 60s but as those bottles were not what they should have been, I leave that out of the equation.
With enough time all wines will finally taste more or less the same.
The OP was looking for alternatives for Nebbiolo and if I recall the QPR was kind of the focus point (might mix up the postings?).
For me personally tasting them both (Carema and Ramisco/Colares) reasonably close time/age span and releases I don’t see much similarities. In 90 years and 50 years wines from these two regions/grapes will taste more or less the same… I take your word for it but I do think at that age/phase more regions/grapes start having similar taste profile and not sure it’s as much about the grape specific taste anymore though can be highly enjoyable and a remarkable experience nonetheless.