Piedmont

The famous region of Piedmont is incredibly diverse.

Most wine connoisseurs think of Barolo and Barbaresco when they think of Piedmont. No wonder, because since the 1980s these wines have been successful, popular, and many of them rare and sought after all over the world. The success of these two wines has turned what was once a very poor region into an economically successful one. A hectare of land in a prime location has become almost unaffordable.

The success of the wineries also created an economic factor for the entire region. Jobs in the numerous supplier companies, the construction industry - and not to forget - pleasure tourism is booming. The success story of the Barolo boys around Angelo Gaja and Elio Altare has even been made into a film.

But Piedmont is large. And few wine-growing regions are as topographically diverse as the western part of northern Italy. That's why the countless other wines are hardly ever mentioned. Wrongly so. For there are quite excellent wines, both red and white. Erbaluce, Gavi, Grignolino, Timorasso, Arneis, Ruchè, Ghemme, Gattinara, Boca, Freisa, Verduno, Bracchetto, Nascetta ...

The location at the foot of the Alps provides the widely hilly landscape with a warm growing season and a long autumn. This climate is particularly favourable for the late-ripening Nebbiolo grape. Apart from Tuscany, most of Italy's top wines come from Piedmont.

The beginnings of viticulture in Piedmont go back to the Taurine people - hence the name of the capital Turin - and to the Ligurians. Surrounded by the Alps in the north and west, and by the Apennines in the south, the land becomes very hilly towards the east and only gradually becomes plain. The name Piedmont means Pié de Monte, i.e.: at the foot of the mountains.

The 42,870 hectares of vineyards are cultivated by around 100,000 wineries and some winegrowers' cooperatives. The vineyards of Piedmont are located in the hill country north and south of the upper Po Valley - mainly near Monferrato, Asti, near Alba, and northwest of Novara and Vercelli. A distinction is made between Piemonte il Monferrato, Piemonte il Nord, Piemonte l'Astigiano and Piemonte le Langhe.

Each area has an individual microclimate and specific soils. The wines from the different areas are therefore also clearly different from each other, although the often very small growing areas are close to each other.

Diversity in quality too.

Piedmont has the most DOP regions in Italy. 85% of all wines come from the 17 DOCG and 42 DOC areas, which is one of the highest quality rates anywhere. Piedmont's share of Italy's total production - similar to Tuscany - is just over 5% percent. The most important wine-growing areas are Alba, Asti, Barolo, Barbaresco, Carema, Canavese, Caluso, the Vercelli and Novara mountains and the hills of Monferrato and Langhe near Alba, which are considered the best sites in terms of quality.

There are well over a hundred authorised grape varieties (in the 19th century there were even almost 400), and many of them are autochthonous. The most important white wine varieties are Moscato, Arneis, Erbaluce, Cortese, Favorita, Timorasso and some Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. The most important red wine varieties are Barbera with about 50% of the total area, Dolcetto and Nebbiolo - also called Chiavennasca or Spanna.

In addition, many autochthonous and a few international grape varieties: Bonarda Piemontese, Brachetto, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Croatina, Freisa, Grignolino, Grisa Nera, Malvasia di Casorzo, Malvasia di Schierano, Merlot, Neretto, Pelaverga , Ruchè, Syrah, Uva Rara (Bonarda Novarese) Vespolina, Riesling and many others in small quantities.

The Nebbiolo grape - the old native and only grape variety for Barolo - is grown on the chalky, loamy weathered soils southwest of the town of Alba in the hill region of the Langhe. From it, the often powerful and tannic Barolo and the somewhat leaner, elegant Barbaresco are pressed. Today, the "battle of the generations" is still recognisable in both.

The traditionalists, who insist on long skin contact and ageing in large wooden barrels, and the modernists, who work with shorter maceration and ageing in barriques, coexist peacefully today. At most, fights are still verbal and joking - in the pub. The differences can certainly be tasted, but today it is only a question of which one tastes better. The wines of the traditionalists often need a few years to show their true elegance, those of the modernists are often accessible earlier, but have long since shown that they last just as long.

The Barbera grape produces very good results in the area around Alba, Asti and Nizza. It is considered much more productive than Nebbiolo, has somewhat softer tannins, powerful body, usually very present fruit and about the same amount of acidity.

The Nebbiolo wines that come from outside the two famous wine-growing areas of Barolo and Barbaresco and their associated vineyards are labelled Nebbiolo d'Alba and are often not inferior to their more famous brothers. But the Nebbiolo grape is also the basis of other high-quality wines of Piedmont: the Gattinara and the Ghemme, as well as in the ancient, long-forgotten region in the north that is now awakening from its slumber: Boca.

Of course, Piedmont is also known as the home of Asti Spumante, made from the Moscato grape. The light, sparkling Asti is very popular in Italy. Whether as still, pearl (frizzantino) or sparkling (spumante) wine - the growths are light, sweet and have a seductively grapey character. However, Piedmont is not only known for its wine production: The region is also the land of origin of vermouth. SUPERIORE.DE