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(It had reduced further, to 45,000 hectares, by 2021.) These reductions affected the provinces of Piemonte to different extents. In the period from 1960–1990, the smaller vineyard area of Turin was reduced by 75 per cent, the largest vineyard areas of Asti and Alessandria by a half, and Novara also reduced by this amount. These reductions had profound social effects on the countryside, reflecting the enormous change from an agricultural to an industrial society.
As in other European countries, the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were also marked by an influx of new diseases. Powdery mildew (oidium) was first seen in the region from 1851, downy mildew (peronospora) from 1884, and phylloxera spread slowly but relentlessly from 1880 but did not really get a grip until 1910. The low planting density of vineyards in those days will have slowed the progress of the insects. There were still many farmers who could not read and so could not inform themselves properly about mildew. Then the additional cost of treatments added to the already serious financial difficulties. Copper was a valuable commodity for other uses (copper sulphate with lime is the standard remedy for downy mildew). Its shortage and the price of sprays meant that the vineyards were in a catastrophic state by the time the country began to rebuild after the Second World War. Phylloxera was rather different. At first the region’s winemakers benefited from additional demand for wine from France, which had suffered much earlier. And while Italian producers benefited from the remedy to phylloxera (planting on American rootstocks) having been established by the time the vineyards needed to be replanted on a large scale, the challenge to replant every vineyard was a huge economic burden in an already massively difficult time.
Wider problems also bore down on grape growers and wine producers. France imposed tariff barriers on goods such as wine, silk and oil in 1888, with the result that some banks collapsed and the value of wine fell. The flight to the cities and later to other countries reduced the labour available to family businesses. The winners in this situation were the large, industrialized wine companies who bought grapes at low prices from growers. By the beginning of the twentieth century, 20 companies were processing 4.7 million of the region’s 5 million-hectolitre production. The large companies also benefited from Piemonte’s two large-production special wines, sparkling (which initially required labour and later investment in equipment) and vermouth. Initially the additional demand for grapes for vermouth was a boon for growers, but
the large companies quickly learnt to buy cheaper grapes from more southerly regions.
Many of these challenges continued after 1945. Given the obvious relative affluence of the region now it is difficult to imagine the general poverty that was typical of the early post-war period. The novels of Cesare Pavese and Beppe Fenoglio graphically portray that world. The flight from rural poverty took place in the context of several factors: lower wine consumption due to the poverty of the general population, the rise of cheaper fraudulent wine made from grapes, acid and sugar, higher taxation on wine, a lack of money to invest in tools and machinery and the high price of treatments in the vineyard. The number of people working in agriculture virtually halved in the 1950s and 1960s and had halved again by 1986. At the same time, the city of Turin increased its population from 722,000 in 1951 to 1,178,000 in 1971, half of this growth coming from emigration internally within Piemonte.
Remarkably, the small family farm survived, supported now by the creation of professional institutions such as the experimental viticultural institutes and the oenology school at Alba. To give a very simple example, in 1918 the first observatory was set up by Luigi Gabotto in Casale Monferrato to monitor weather conditions (humidity, temperature, rainfall) to warn growers when they needed to spray against peronospora. In the days before mobile phones, farmers would be alerted by the means available in this period: ringing the parish church bell or flying the national flag at a known time between 9–10 am or even using the municipality’s siren as an alert. But progress was made. Vineyards were eventually replanted on phylloxera-resistant rootstocks and vines trained using the Guyot method in rows which facilitated spraying.
Local initiatives also played an important part in the survival of the small family grape-growing business. In the Langhe, the giant producer of chocolate and hazelnut products, Ferrero, makers of Nutella and Ferrero Rocher, was founded in Alba in 1946. It provided free bus transport for workers from the surrounding countryside who could combine a job which brought in a regular salary with continuing to work the family’s small vineyards. This not only reduced the temptation to leave the land for Turin’s Fiat factory, but also enabled families to keep their vineyards and for subsequent generations to benefit from the Barolo boom.
In 1965, Piemonte anticipated the government’s legislation against fraud in wine and set up its own surveillance service to try to tackle the issue and protect legitimate winemakers. Piemonte was also an early
France
Switzerland
Genoa
Milan
Langhe and Roero
Monferrato
Gavi and Colli Tortonesi
Mediterranean Sea
Valleys of the western Alps
Northern Piemonte
Turin
River Po
River Ticino
River Orco
Alba
Moncalieri Chieri Bra
Acqui Terme
Alessandria
Casale Monferrato Asti
Map 1: Piemonte
CLIMATE
Piemonte is sheltered from the worst of the weather by the Alps to its north and from storms from the Mediterranean by the Apennines to the south. Overall, the region has a strongly continental climate with cold winters and hot summers and, like other continental regions, is prone to hail. Only the area around Gavi is open to winds from the sea, which at this point is only 30 kilometres away. However, there are significant differences between the major grape growing areas, partly due to the size of the region and partly through the main grape growing areas being at different elevations. This can easily be seen in the data from the last decade from six locations important for grape growing.3
Site of weather station and wine region
Cravanzana (Alta Langa)
Pinerolo (Pinerolese)
Average growing season temperature, 2012–2021
Elevation of the weather station
Morra (Barolo)
(Gavi)
While no single climatic index is perfect, climate scientist Greg Jones argues that average growing season temperature (GST) is the best single indicator of where a grape variety can thrive.4 He classifies the world’s wine grape growing regions into cool (13–15°C/55–59°F), temperate (15–17°C /59–63°F), warm (17–19°C/63–67°F) and hot (19–22°/67–72°F). Applying this classification to the decade 2013–2022,5 most of Piemonte’s key zones (Barolo, Gavi, Nizza) are on the boundary between the warm and hot categories. Agliano Terme (Nizza) at 18.6°C (65.5°F) has a surprisingly lower GST than La Morra, despite being 100
3 All climate data cited was provided by the meteorological service of the Regione Piemonte from its network of 120 weather stations.
4 Anderson, K., Nelgen, S., Which Winegrape Varieties are Grown Where?
5 This decade saw a steep rise in average GST but also contains the extremely hot year 2022. It registered a GST of 21ºC (69.8ºF) in La Morra in 2022. This is more typical of Jerez, in southern Spain, than northern Italy and even Ghemme was in the hot category at 19.9ºC (67.8ºF).
Freisa defying the drought
The acidity is not just a matter of perception. To give an extreme example, a 2019 harvest report for Piemonte found an average pH in the grape juice of just 3.00 and a total acidity of 12.5 grams per litre,17 figures normally associated with grapes from cool climate areas such as Champagne or England. As a result of the high acidity and tannins of Freisa wines, they will be enjoyed by those who are accustomed to the sometimes demanding structures of Nebbiolo or Sangiovese. Despite its attractive red fruit character, it can be tough and, if not well made, bitter. One solution to this was the traditional practice of making off-dry wines but they are also difficult to promote as many drinkers think that red wines should be dry.
The key to making good Freisa is to deal with the tannins. This can be achieved, first, by ensuring that only very ripe grapes are picked. Its thick skins help as the grapes can be kept on the vine and harvested late to ensure the pips are fully ripe, the malic acid drops and the red fruit, rose and violet aromas are maximized.18 A second approach is to limit the amount of time the fermenting must is in contact with the pips. At Cascina Gilli, which makes no fewer than three Freisa wines, they remove the pips from the fermenting must after just 48 hours from the beginning of
17 Vigasio, M., Montaldo, G., L’annata vitivinicola in Piemonte 2019
18 Caudana et al., 2009. ‘Nuove tecniche di vinificazione per la valorizzazione del Freisa’.
fermentation. They then allow the maceration on the skins to continue without the pips. Another approach could be to age Freisa over many years in the bottle, as is commonly done with Nebbiolo. Unfortunately, there is little tradition of ageing the rustic relative in this way.
As a varietal wine, Freisa is made in several styles. Most commonly it is made as a still red wine, usually aged in stainless steel or neutral botti but occasionally in small oak barrels with some new wood. In addition, it appears as a rosato or as frizzante or spumante wines. The sparkling wines can either be dry or, like the better known Brachetto, low-alcohol and sweet. It is undoubtedly one of Piemonte’s most versatile varieties and one well worth exploring by more intrepid wine lovers.
Grignolino
While Nebbiolo is today the undisputed king of the grape varieties in Piemonte, from medieval times this position was held by Grignolino. It was a wine valued by the aristocracy, such as the important Incisa della Rocchetta family. Its standing today is somewhat less exalted. While some advocates such as Pierfrancesco Gatto, of the winery of the same name, regard it as ‘the Barolo of Monferrato’, it produces wines in an unfashionable style, being pale in colour, acidic and tannic (Nebbiolo is now the most obvious exception to this fashion). In addition, there are considerable challenges to both growing and vinifying it successfully. However, all these challenges are more than overcome by its beautiful and redeeming aromatics. Young wines can entice with a complex combination of floral, red fruit and spice notes. Bottle-aged or wines aged for a long time in botti show classic leather, coffee and undergrowth tertiary aromas, demonstrating why it was valued in the past and why it is worth treasuring today.
It is likely that the variety was documented as early as 1249 when a piece of land was lent to a certain Guglielmo Crova on condition that it was planted ‘with good vines of Berbexinis’, Berbesino still being a synonym of Grignolino.19 It is mentioned again in a document of the fourteenth century abbey at Susa in the province of Turin. In recent times it has fallen out of favour. For example, the great Barolo-producer Bartolo Mascarello replaced his vines with Barbera. In this century, the vineyard area devoted to the variety in Piemonte has dropped from 1,280 hectares (the eighth most planted variety in 2000) to 752 hectares (tenth most
19 Nada Padrone, A.M., ‘Bere vino in area pedemontana nel Medioevo’.
would prioritize geology. Far from this, he gives full weight to topography in general, elevation, aspect, shading of one hillside by another, wind direction, microclimate, the distinction between younger soils on the steeper side of a ridge (due to more erosion) and evoluted soils on the less steep side (and therefore subject to more physical-chemical change) and, of course, soil and subsoil type. To give large-scale examples, he points out that typically the wines of the comuni of La Morra and Barolo are riper and ready to drink earlier than those of Serralunga d’Alba. La Morra and Barolo are both in a broad and open basin that traps heat and typically have soils derived from Sant’Agata Fossili Marls, while Serralunga d’Alba is adjacent to a narrow valley subject to cold winds coming down from Alta Langa and soils derived from the Lequio Formation. Further, the eastern slope of Monforte d’Alba, which is also on Lequio Formation and in the same valley as Serralunga d’Alba, is slightly cooler yet as it is shaded in the early evening in contrast to the full sun across the valley. The takeaway here is that simple explanations that a characteristic in a wine is the result of a geological or a soil type are pretty much always going to be an oversimplification. There will always be multiple factors to consider.
While not ignoring this range of factors, in Barolo Terroir, Ian d’Agata puts more emphasis on geological composition and soil types, as shown in the table opposite, a very helpful summary of complex matters.
GRAPE VARIETIES: THE ‘NEBBIOLIZATION’ OF THE LANGHE
The Langhe is rightly associated primarily with Nebbiolo, Barbera and Dolcetto. These varieties are introduced in Chapter 3. Trends in Nebbiolo and Dolcetto are discussed in this chapter, while Barbera trends are dealt with in Chapter 10. Regarding Nebbiolo, its remarkable commercial success in Barolo and Barbaresco has had profound effects on the Langhe. The headlines may be grabbed by the eye-watering prices achieved both for the most sought-after bottles and for prime vineyard land but the real story is the change in the proportions of what is planted in the vineyard. Vinous fashion has played its part. Historically, Dolcetto and, from the nineteenth century, Barbera were the common varieties of the area, with only the very best sites being reserved for the
Lithological soil type
Lequio Formation
Soil types and wine styles in the Langhe
Geological stage
Soil composition
Serravalian to Tortonian Silty marls, compacted sands, sandstone, clay, limestone
Diano Sandstone
Sant’Agata
Fossili Marls
Comuni Wine style
Southern section of Serralunga d’Alba, eastfacing slope of Monforte d’Alba
Tortonian Rich in sand and grey sandstone Ridge of Monforte d’Alba, small parts of Castiglione Falletto, Barolo, Diano d’Alba and La Morra
Tortonian Limestone, clay and bluegrey marls
Chalk Vein
FormationSS
Messinian Sandy deposits with chalk and soft sulphate
Barolo, La Morra, Verduno, Novello, Grinzane Cavour, Castiglione Falletto, westfacing slope of Monforte d’Alba
Most powerful, structured and refined wines. Tannic when young, longest lived of all
Very fullbodied wines, fleshier than those from Lequio Formation, with structure and elegance
Elegant wines with intense and precise aromas, fine tannins, less ageing potential than the above
La Morra and Verduno Most approachable Barolos at an early age, gentle textures and very bright perfumes
Within the comuni column, I have added distinctions within some comuni, for example, in Monforte d’Alba. Adapted from d’Agata and Longo, Barolo Terroir
CHERASCO
Mottarone SanGiacomo Plaustra Porretto
Olmo Piane di Barolo
RODDI Comune Berri Torbido Bergeisa
Vineyards Comune boundary Barolo DOCG
Talloriadell’Annunziata
Talloria di Castiglione
CASTIGLIONE FALLETTO
Grinzane Cavour
established producers in the key comuni and to include some more recent arrivals. The wineries are dealt with in an order that mainly follows the comune in which they are based. However, it is appropriate to start with two wineries, both reinvigorated cooperatives, that are now setting high standards and source grapes across the entire denomination.
Two important cooperatives
While lovers of great Nebbiolo wines are familiar with the wines of Produttori del Barbaresco, the two cooperatives in Barolo in the past have not had the same reputation for the quality of their wines. However, both have access to outstanding vineyards. In the first decade of this century, these wineries have entered the premium sector and interestingly followed different approaches.
VERDUNO
RODDI GRINZANE CAVOUR
SERRALUNGA D’ALBA
MONFORTE D’ALBA
NOVELLO BAROLO
LA MORRA
DIANO D’ALBA
Monforte d’Alba
Novello Cucchi
Barolo Perno
Ornato
San Bartolomeo Fasana
Serralunga d’Alba
Castiglione Falletto
La Morra
La Berri Silo
Rivalta Verduno
Gallo
Map 3: Comuni of Barolo DOCG
Arnaldo Rivera
Castiglione Falletto
www.arnaldorivera.com
Arnaldo Rivera, long-time mayor of Castiglione Falletto, founded the Terre del Barolo cooperative with 22 members in 1958. It has since grown to 300 families with 600 hectares of land, roughly 12 per cent of the denomination. In the past, it focused on bulk wine and own-label wines for supermarkets and chains but that all began to change around the turn of the millennium. From 2008, it separated its production into the Terre del Barolo range (higher volumes of bottled wines) and the premium Arnaldo Rivera range. For the latter, it works with 35 families and produces a classico wine (Undicicomuni, the only Barolo wine that is made from grapes from all 11 comuni) and a growing number of MGA wines. These include some of the most sought-after MGAs (Vignarionda, Bussia, Monvigliero and Ravera) and a rarity in MGA Castello from Grinzane Cavour. For these wines and the other wines in this range (Verduno Pelaverga, Freisa, Barbera, Dolcetto, Nascetta del comune di Novello), the company enters a five-year contract with the grower, imposing high viticultural standards closely monitored, and the sanction of exclusion from this range in any year if the quality is deemed not to be appropriate. The result is an outstanding range of wines that are the equal of many top private companies. For the Barolo MGA wines, time on the skins is typically 20–25 days and ageing is in French oak, the sizes varying according to the volumes. The amount of new oak ranges from none for the classico wine (75 per cent aged in botti, the rest in second and third fill tonneaux) to 100 per cent new tonneaux for Vignarionda.
Vite Colte
Barolo www.vitecolte.it
Rather like Arnaldo Rivera, Vite Colte has its origins in the top line of a cooperative, in this case of Terre da Vino. It has a wide regional reach, rather than just Barolo, and makes the classic wines from across southern Piemonte from the Langhe to Gavi, plus an Erbaluce di Caluso. The parent cooperative processes the fruit from 5,000 hectares; the Vite
The town of La Morra sits above its famous vineyards, the most important of which face south and south-east
expunged by the MGA system. The grapes for this wine come from four vineyards in La Morra, so it would have been helpful to put La Morra on the label. The single MGA wines are Rocche dell’Annunziata, Conca (which will be aged longer from the 2019 vintage on and be a riserva) and, from the 2019 vintage, Serradenari, all in La Morra. (These three wines will make for fascinating tasting, side-by-side, as the elevations range from around 240 to above 500 metres.) Maceration times are around 30 days and the ageing these days is mainly in botti, though some barriques were used in older vintages and for a part of the Conca bottling.
Cordero di Montezemolo
La Morra www.corderodimontezemolo.com
This is a historic winery with royal Savoy antecedents and a glorious name which comes from a family based in Mondovì, south-west of Dogliani. The full history is easy to access on the company website. The home Monfalletto estate, by Barolo standards a massive 28 hectares in one piece, is half their total vineyard holding. It is also graced
by a magnificent cedar of Lebanon, planted in 1856, one of the great Barolo landmarks. The wines have a lot to live up to and do just that. The Langhe Nebbiolo and the Dolcetto d’Alba are exemplary, aromatic and vivacious wines. Barolo spends just two weeks on the skins and 20 months in oak, always a mixture of large Slavonian botti and barriques, some new. The wines are then aged in bottle for an extended time (two years) before release, resulting in wines that are accessible and fresh when young but still with the concentration to age. Barolo Monfalletto is the estate wine with separate bottlings of MGA Gattera and, from Castiglione Falletto, MGA Villero. For those who visit the property only, the family reserves Barolo Riserva Gorette (eight years of ageing, magnums only). The fruit comes from the vineyard at the foot of the cedar of Lebanon, a nice touch.
Mauro Veglio
La Morra
www.mauroveglio.com
Founded during the period when modernism had just taken hold in Barolo, Mauro Veglio, like many other companies, is now going through a subtle change of direction. To go back to the early days, Mauro himself started to label his own wine in 1992, having taken over the business in 1986. Influenced by near neighbour Elio Altare, there was an emphasis on quality work in the vineyards, vinification with rotofermenters and new French oak barriques. More recently, as Mauro began to think about the future after his retirement, he turned to his nephew Alessandro who had his own Alessandro Veglio label from vineyards that had been inherited by Mauro’s brother. He and Alessandro have reunited the family vineyards and have positioned Alessandro in place to take the business forward. The result is an estate with an enviable range of MGA wines –Arborina, Gattera and a highly-prized sliver in Rocche dell’Annunziata, all in La Morra, Castelletto in Monforte d’Alba and Paiagallo in Barolo – as well as a highly reliable Barolo classico. They have also been able to rent plots in Serralunga d’Alba for a wine that will appear in due course. Under Alessandro’s influence and working with Mauro, things are also on the move in the cellar. Dedicated fermentation vats have been bought for each of the Barolo MGA wines, replacing the rotofermenters, meaning that there is no need to hurry things along for space reasons and for a soft extraction. The fruit is destemmed but not crushed
Monprivato is mostly a very uniform MGA facing south-west (and therefore very warm), with an elevation of 200–300 metres
different plots in the Perno MGA, an outstanding Freisa (around six days on the skins, short stay in wood, released after two years), two bottlings of Dolcetto (the same winemaking as Freisa but released after one year) and a Langhe Nebbiolo wine.
Cavallotto
Castiglione Falletto www.cavallotto.com
The full name of this winery, Cavallotto Fratelli – Tenuta vitivinicola Bricco Boschis, includes the name of the MGA, Bricco Boschis, in which it is to be found. Cavallotto has the rare status in Barolo as a genuine estate, a winery on a single, continuous extension of 25 hectares of vineyard. The entire estate does not fall within the Bricco Boschis MGA as in 1989 the family were able to buy part of the adjacent Vignolo MGA.
Cavallotto’s winemaking is the textbook case of a mix of traditional and modern approaches. Fermentation with ambient yeast follows destemming but not crushing, leaving whole berries in the mix, with the cap being worked gently in horizontal rotofermenters for up to 35 days in outstanding years, in effect a modern form of semi-submerged
cap. However, ageing is very traditional, in Slavonian oak botti, three years for Bricco Boschis, four to five years for the riserva wines. The company’s website holds truly outstanding technical sheets for the wines with detailed information about the weather, and technical tasting analysis for each year of production, set against average figures since 1970. Non-wine geeks can just enjoy the balance of the wines and the way that every bottling is a near perfect example of what it is, Langhe Nebbiolo, Barolo MGA Bricco Boschis and two Barolo riserva from single vineyards (Vignolo and Bricco Boschis Vigna San Giuseppe), plus other varieties. Further native varieties (Barbera, Grignolino, Freisa) are complemented by some Pinot Nero (made as a white wine) and Chardonnay, both made in stainless steel only.
Gigi Rosso
Castiglione Falletto www.gigirosso.it
Maurizio Rosso is one of the very few wine producers who not only talks about the history of the Langhe but also has recorded it in a fullscale book. The heart of The Mystique of Barolo (Italian version, 2001) is interviews with 35 top producers. As a relatively young man, he realized that a generation was passing away and with them the history of
Alfio Cavallotto and traditional botti
Wineries in the comune of Treiso
Ca’ del Baio
Treiso
www.cadelbaio.com
While family-run wineries are commonplace in Piemonte, the family element at Ca’ del Baio is always to the fore. Giulio Grasso and Luciana are regularly to be seen and the three daughters, Paola, Valentina and Federica, are now the ambassadors at home and abroad. And there is another generation in the wings.
Ca’ del Baio offers an attractive range of wine, rather wider than the typical Langhe range: oaked and unoaked Chardonnay, Riesling, Dolcetto, Barbera, Moscato and of course Nebbiolo. With 23 hectares in production, they have invested in the future above Trezzo Tinella, buying land at 630 metres of elevation with a view to growing their Chardonnay, Pinot Nero, Riesling and Moscato for dry wine there.
On the Nebbiolo front, the star wines are the MGA wines, Vallegrande (Treiso; standard and a riserva, Viti Vecchie), Pora and Asili (both Barbaresco, the latter as a standard wine and a riserva). Vinification is matched to site: short maceration (up to 15 days) for the classico
Three generations at Ca’ del Baio
called Autinbej (‘most beautiful or sunniest part of the vineyard’ in dialect) and MGA Vallegrande, followed by two years in botti. By contrast, MGA Asili and Pora and the riserva wines are subject to long maceration times (30–60 days). For these wines experimentation is taking place with various levels of whole bunch, 10–30 per cent. Ageing is partly in tonneaux of second and third use and partly in botti.
Cantina Rizzi
Treiso
www.cantinarizzi.com
Cantina Rizzi, owned by the Dellapiana family since 1974, owns 44 hectares of vineyard, making it one of the larger companies in Barbaresco. Half of those hectares are Nebbiolo for Barbaresco, the rest is Dolcetto, Barbera, Moscato, Freisa, Chardonnay and Pinot Nero. While the heart of the company is in the MGAs of Rizzi (10 hectares) and Nervo (both Treiso), they have also bought vineyards in the prestigious Pajorè MGA (Treiso) to offer a full range of wines. Alta Langa traditional method sparkling started in 2007 and became the DOCG wine from 2013; the challenge here was to create the space for the ageing on the lees required. Maceration times for Barbaresco MGA wines are 20–30 days. The wines are then aged for 12–15 months in botti, plus a further eight in concrete tanks. This is extended for the single vineyard wine, Vigna Boito (MGA Rizzi), which is made as a riserva with 20–24 months in botti, followed by time in tank and bottle.
Other recommended wineries in the comune of Treiso include Barbaresco’s second cooperative, Pertinace, with 20 members and 110 hectares of vineyard. Its three Barbaresco MGAs, Marcarini, Castellizzano and Nervo, are within Treiso. The wines are made with long maceration on the skins (40–60 days) and 18 months in botti. Grasso Fratelli has Barbaresco MGAs San Stunet, Giacosa and Vallegrande. Lodali has a good range of Barolo and Barbaresco and a rare Langhe Rosso made with Nebbiolo and Petit Verdot.
Wineries in the frazione of San Rocco Seno d’Elvio, Alba
Despite its tiny size, there are important wineries in San Rocco Seno d’Elvio, a frazione of Alba. This is perhaps not surprising as it is close to the city.
Infernot in Cella Monte. The table-like structure in the centre of the cellar was sculpted as one solid piece out of the surrounding rock as the workers chipped away to create the cellar.
10 MONFERRATO: BARBERA HEARTLAND
While many wine lovers have come to use the term Langhe for the area around Alba, few have a clear grasp of the region called Monferrato. It is the large area of central-southern Piemonte, bounded to the north by the river Po and to the south by the Tanaro, Belbo and Bormida rivers. To the east it peters out in the lower part of eastern Alessandria, in the west it abuts the Langhe and Roero. In summary, Monferrato is the mainly gently hilly region in the provinces of Asti and Alessandria. The word ‘Monferrato’ comes from the long period when the Marquises of Monferrato ruled in this area between the tenth century and 1708 when it was incorporated into the territory of the House of Savoy. However, while the term Monferrato has historic and cultural significance it has no contemporary administrative significance.
Regrettably the names of the major wine denominations in Monferrato do not promote a regional identity. The varieties Moscato and Barbera dominate. The former is mainly grown in the southern part of Monferrato and goes into wines labelled Asti and Moscato d’Asti. By contrast, Barbera is grown everywhere in Piemonte, with its heartland in Monferrato. Similarly, Barbera’s most important denomination, Barbera d’Asti DOCG, does not have Monferrato in its title, even though it includes all of Asti province and most of Alessandria. The virtually overlapping Barbera del Monferrato (DOC and DOCG) is smaller, in decline and less prestigious. In summary, Monferrato has historical and cultural significance for those who live in this area but has so far made little impact in terms of a regional identity for wine lovers.
Grignolino del Monferrato Casalese DOC
Monferrato DOC
Freisa di Chieri DOC
Freisa d’Asti DOC
Alba
Bra Dolcetto d’Asti DOC
Cortese dell’Alto Monferrato DOC
Collina Torinese DOC
Albugnano DOC
Malvasia di Castelnuovo Don Bosco DOC
Terre Al eri DOCG
Cisterna d’Asti DOC
Strevi DOC
Loazzolo DOC
Dolcetto di Ovada Superiore DOCG/ Dolcetto di Ovada DOC
Malvasia di Casorzo d’Asti DOC
Ruchè di Castagnole Monferrato DOCG
Grignolino d’Asti DOC
Dolcetto d’Acqui
Champagne Charles Lafitte. In addition to its own vineyards, Bersano has long-term arrangements to buy grapes. As a result, it can offer almost any wine from southern Piemonte except for Colli Tortonesi, which can surely only be a matter of time. It represents the history of Monferrato winemaking in three ways. First, the winery is directly opposite the railway station in Nizza Monferrato, reflecting the time when wine was transported by rail to the large cities of the north. Second, it has a magnificent collection of old vineyard and winery machinery, not to mention some wonderful old steam engines. The third way concerns winemaking.
Acqui Terme Ovada
Chieri
Chivasso
Turin
Asti
Alessandria
Calosso
Map 6: Monferrato, the local varieties
In terms of volumes, the biggest bottlings are Costalunga, Barbera d’Asti Superiore (400,000 bottles a year; 50 per cent aged in large oak botti for six months, the rest in stainless steel) and the premium Generala®, Nizza Riserva (aged for a year in oak tonneaux and botti). These Barbera wines are then followed in volumes by Ruchè, Brachetto and Moscato. Half of the wine is exported. The wines are made in fairly traditional styles, modified by a welcome move to larger oak barrels (tonneaux instead of barriques, alongside the continued use of botti) in order to let the fruit do the talking. The other historical sight to behold in the winery are the 61 10,000-litre botti which are now over 50 years old and are in daily use. Ninety per cent of the red wine is aged in this monument to traditional Piemontese winemaking.
Montalbera
Castagnole Monferrato www.montalbera.it
Montalbera is a second major player in Monferrato, with 110 hectares of vineyard. Based 35 kilometres north of Nizza Monferrato in Castagnole Monferrato, it is in prime Ruchè country which provides half of the production.
Ruchè here comes in no fewer than four styles, all made within the rules of Ruchè di Castagnole Monferrato DOCG. La Tradizione®, by far the biggest volume at 90,000 bottles, is made and aged in stainless steel for a clean, fruit-expressive wine showing off the variety’s lively rose and red-berried fruit with a hint of spice. Laccento® is made with 20 per cent late-harvested, over-ripe fruit, again made in stainless steel. The fruit here is darker, the spice notes more intense and accompany Ruchè’s powerful floral aromas. There is also a vino da uve stramature version of Laccento with the fruit being left to dry on the vine for around two weeks, this sweet wine being sold in half bottles. Finally, there is a small production of Limpronta®, 90 per cent Ruchè and 10 per cent Barbera, aged for one year in French oak tonneaux and one in bottle. A wide range of other wines is made, from the traditional varieties to the newcomers Viognier and Monferrato Nebbiolo.
FREISA
For an introduction to this variety, see Chapter 3. While producers in the Langhe will normally use the Piemonte DOC Freisa option, in
