Risotto al Barolo Lombardo

Oltrepò Pavese / Langhe borderlands, Lombardia

The great red wine risotto of Lombardia's border with Piedmont — Carnaroli rice toasted in a soffritto of shallots and butter, then cooked in stages with Barolo DOCG (or Barbera for a lighter version) added in place of white wine, building to a deep burgundy-purple risotto finished with aged Parmigiano and cold butter. The Barolo's tannins soften during cooking and its fruit — blackberry, tar, rose — becomes the aromatic scaffold of the dish. Paired with braised meats or ossobuco.

• Both use the same principle of cooking a starch or protein entirely in red wine to build a deeply coloured, wine-flavoured dish where the wine tannins are the primary flavour structure → Matelote au Vin Rouge (Red Wine Fish Stew) French
• Both are rice dishes coloured by their liquid medium (wine vs ink) where the colour is indexical of the dominant flavour — arroz negro tastes of the sea, risotto al Barolo tastes of the wine → Arroz Negro (Black Rice with Squid Ink) Spanish

Deep, tannic, earthy with blackberry and tar undertones from the Barolo, balanced by the creaminess of butter and Parmigiano — a genuinely complex risotto