Pelaverga Piccolo and the Baader Meinhof Effect

Last year, I spent a blissful 48 hours with colleagues in Piemonte’s Langhe region. We spent our time admiring spectacular views, eating vitello tonnato, and consuming copious amounts of Barolo – all accompanied by some incredibly generous, passionate people. It was a life-affirming, joyous trip which reminded me why I’m in the wine business. By the end of the first day, I had fallen for the Langhe, hook line and sinker. And this was before something happened to me that, as years go by, has become less common but more special. I discovered a new grape variety.

We drove into Verduno – one of the eleven crus of Barolo. After a couple of missed turns and some light swearing (I am well versed in the Italian relationship between driving and blasphemy thanks to my husband Marcello), we pulled up in front of Castello di Verduno. A beautiful old building with just the right amount of weathered charm that made me think, not for the first time during that trip, ‘I could live here’. Too bad I decided to work in the wine trade rather than hedge funds or oil. A short walk to the edge of the hill took us to an incredible viewpoint, where we could see the patchwork of vineyards that make up Barolo – tiny differences in altitude and aspect giving rise to the incredible variety – and quality – of wines produced in this world-famous region. We walked through beautiful gardens and cool, ancient cellars, before settling in a tasting room.

Export Director Marco Buttignol poured Nebbiolo after Nebbiolo for us. From more humble bottlings from the broader Langhe area through to the great crus of Barolo and Barbaresco, we tasted. The wines were concentrated, angular, and linear. This was a buying trip, so they were all also brand new – the period when Nebbiolo can appear austere – its fiercely high acidity and intensely tannic structure not yet yielded to the softening and mellowing impact of time and oxygen.

But the wine that has stayed with me from the visit was not Nebbiolo but something utterly unexpected. Pelaverga Piccolo.

This little-known indigenous grape was once simply found scattered among vineyards in the cru of Verduno. It was simply picked alongside the Nebbiolo and vinified with it, destined for Barolo. In 1972, however, Gabriella Burlotto, owner of Castello di Verduno, did something interesting. She decided that Pelaverga Piccolo deserved a little more attention and gave it a vineyard all of its own.

It’s this sort of thing that I love about the wine industry. To think that someone would put her trust in an almost totally unknown, near-extinct grape variety when she could be making Barolo? That’s the kind of quixotic passion that I find totally irresistible. Others followed, and now there are close to 20 producers of Pelaverga Piccolo.

So how did I get from a rather esoteric Italian grape variety to the Baader-Meinhof Gang? I imagine you have guessed by now that it was nothing to do with terrorism but rather through a psychological concept. The Baader Meinhof phenomenon is a term coined by Terry Mullen in the 90s, in reference to the experience of learning about something for the first time and suddenly seeming to notice it everywhere. It is now more prosaically known as the ‘frequency illusion’.

Lucky me – after this magical trip to the Langhe, I became surrounded by Pelaverga. I saw a post on Instagram featuring Castello di Verduno and the same gorgeous wine that I’d tasted. I found a second Pelaverga on the list at The Wine Society. A sample of the new vintage of ‘my’ Pelaverga arrived at OWC, and finally the actual bottles on our shelves. A friend sent me a snap of Burlotto Pelaverga that she’d ordered while out to dinner.

I can’t pretend that I was some kind of Pelaverga pioneer. Studying wine – and even daring to consider oneself something of an expert – can be a humbling thing. During my research for this post I came across an article which tells me that ‘over the past decade, every wine pro has come to know and love Pelaverga’ Did everyone know about it but me?

Well, it has since emerged that the ‘everyone’ who knew about this grape seemed to be largely confined to a small group of New York dwelling wine nerds and a smattering of Master of Wine Students (and of course the brilliant Piemontese who are actually growing the stuff).

I decided to open a bottle of Castello di Verduno’s Basadone Pelaverga during a rather self-indulgent Wines of Italy staff training session at OWC – essentially an excuse to open some of my favourite bottles in the name of education. A lovely discovery from this tasting was that Basadone is the local Piemontese name for the wild poppy pictured on the label – as well as meaning ‘lady-kisser’ in reference to the wine’s rumoured aphrodisiac quality. Maybe that explains why I loved it so much.

Gratifyingly, the wine was just as delicious as the previous times I’d tasted it. So light as to touch on being ethereal, with a gorgeously transparent pale red colour in the glass. The perfume of dried flowers and more than just a whisp of black pepper were complex, with a supremely drinkable ‘smashable’ quality born of its pure cherry fruit and light tannic grip.

I opened my second bottle of Pelaverga Piccolo – this time from Luigi Einaudi via The Wine Society – with Marcello on a recent Wednesday evening. This had a little more density on the palate than the Basadone from Castello di Verduno, but all the same delicious black pepper spice, floral lift and juicy red-fruited palate. As usual, we talked about what we might pair it with – Marcello’s vote was for a ‘Gallinella all’Acqua Pazza’. Literally red mullet in ‘crazy water’, but in reality a delicious sort of ‘put whatever you want in it’ fish stew.

So, here’s to frequency bias, the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon and obscure Piemontese grape varieties. Here’s also to the knowledge that the next delightful discovery is waiting somewhere utterly unexpected. Until I find mine, I might just settle for some Acqua Pazza and a third bottle of Pelaverga.

The trip to Langhe was hosted, and the bottles tasted, including Castello di Verduno Basadone Pelaverga Piccolo commercial samples for The Oxford Wine Company. The Luigi Einaudi Pelaverga was purchased from The Wine Society.