Halfway between the Basso (Roero & Langhe) & Alto Piemonte, just to the east of Torino, lies the spectacular fifty-five hectare region of Albugnano DOC, centred on the comune of the same name at its apex of 549m asl. The terreno here is ancient Miocenic arenaria, argilla, calcareo, gesso (gypsum), plus a scattering of greenstone/igneous ‘pietra di Serpentite‘ from Mte Monviso. The region is spread over four comunes of the Alto Monferrato: Albugnano, Pino d’Asti, Castelnuovo Don Bosco, e Passerano-Marmorito.
It was Evasio (Roggero), born in 1850, & his son Prospero, who planted the first vines (Barbera & Freisa) at the end of the 1800s; the wine in those days being delivered in a barrel (“butalin”/botte di legno) by Prospero to private customers on the back of his cart (‘cartun’/carro). Alas, during the 1920s the Roggero vineyards were destroyed by phylloxera, forcing Mario, back from the war, to replant in the post-war years. Their first vineyard of Nebbiolo was planted in 1969. Mario replaced the cart with a second-hand van, with which to transport his wine, now in demi-john (damigiana), to thirsty customers in Torino. Since the 1980s, Bruno & his fratello Marco have continued Mario’s legacy, & were among the founding fathers of the new Albugnano DOC in 1997.
The Roggero family now farm 7ha in the Albugnano frazione of Vallana, of which 1.5ha at circa 380m asl is devoted to Nebbiolo for making Albugnano DOC. They also grow local variety Montanera (Dousèt Vej), Grignolino, Friesa, Barbera, & Viognier.
And since 2017, Bruno’s son Mauro has taken over responsibility for the wines, having graduated in enologia e agronomia, while in 2023 his sorella Marina joined him as ‘Marketing Direttrice‘!
The Albugnano DOC disciplinare allows the addition of 15% Freisa/Barbera/Bonarda in the final wine. In 2023 they began ageing their 100% Nebbiolo, Albugnano DOC ‘Bric Carvè’ (Bricco Carnevale) in 20HL botte grande for the first time, while their Albugnano DOC ‘Il Giglio’ 2023 blended 93% Nebbiolo & 7% Freisa.
High up the Val Curone valley, at the entrance to the comune of Brignano-Frascata, with vines at circa 300m asl among the Colli Tortonesi on calcareous clay (marne sant’agata fossili) soils, the Poggio family is now on its fourth generation with the return of figlio Matteo from his vinous travels in Gennaio 2024. He follows in the footsteps of bisnonno Giuseppe, nonno Desiderio (‘Derio’), e padre Paolo.
In the early 1900s, Giuseppe Poggio began selling ‘vino bianco‘ to Swiss & German customers. The family first planted Timorasso in 1989, using the family’s plant material dating back 100 years. In the 1990s it was Giuseppe’s grandson Paolo who recognized the potential of Timorasso, a variety tightly linked to their territorio, & who initiated the first commercial bottlings. Paolo also began replanting the 15ha estate in 2008 & then in 2020.
They vinify their (Derthona) Timorasso in stainless-steel, allowing the wines to go through malolactic fermentation & then bottling the new vintage 12 months after the harvest, in September. From vintage 2022 they have released tiny quantities of 1989-planted Timorasso ‘Ronchetto’ that enjoys a further year in bt prior to release.
They also produce small quantities of Croatina, Barbera, & Cortese.
Located in the Monferrato Casalese comune of Vignale Monferrato, NE of Asti, the family cantina of Carlo Santopietro takes their name from the single vyd Il Mongetto that lies in the frazione of the same name. The vineyard sits on a block of marne sant’agata fossili, rich with limo (54%), argilla calcareo (31%), & sabbia (15%), with an alkaline pH of 8.0; detto ‘franco limoso agrilloso’, it appears to be the perfect environment for growing Grignolino. The cantina is also famous for their old vine Barbera, grown on the single site Guera. Plus they have a small plot of Malvasia di Casorza, a red grape.
Bottling began in 1979, with Carlo Santopietro joining the family business in 1982. They have 10ha of vines, divided up between four vyds in the comune of Vignale Monferrato: Il Mongetto, Rudifra’, Guera, & Solin. Vinification takes place in cimento, using selected yeasts for security, the Grignolino skins being racked off after a week, along with the infamous vinaccioli, with fermentation completed without, while the Barbera is affinato in barriques, some new.
Carlo looks for full phenolic maturity in all his fruit, not least Grignolino with its plentiful ‘grignole‘ (seeds), facilitated by the calcareo soils, & assisted by low pH (minerally) must. Since 2007, working alongside Carlo is the talented enologo, Dott. Umberto Lucano. They make circa 6k bts/anno of Grignolino del Monferrato Casalese, closed with sughero & DIAM; however in 2023 the Grignolino harvested was destroyed by hail. Carlo also makes a tiny quantity of metodo classico from Grignolino vinificato in bianco, which enjoys 26 mesi on its fine lies prior to release.
Located in the Monferrato comune of Agliano Terme, an ancient paese famous for its magnesium-rich thermal springs & Barbera grapes, seventh generation Samuele CASTINO started working alongside his padre Angelo & zio in 2020, having graduated in agronomia e enologia in Alba/Turin, then gained experience in Bordeaux, Burgundy, & Priorat. The family cantina was founded in 1854, with customers principally in Turin & Asti, & until recently was buying in fruit & wine, vinified in a series of old 50HL cement tanks, to supplement their 6ha in order to supply a local market.
The family cantina lies on a ridge between frazioni Bansella-Banchetti, Dani-Scorrone, & Vignole south-east of the village, on gently sloping calc-clay, gypsum, & sandy/limo soils. The 6ha is divided up between Barbera (3.5ha), Grignolino, Nebbiolo, & Cortese. Agliano Terme is the most western comune of Nizza DOCG, & one of 18 that form part of the territory; indeed the family make a Nizza DOCG from a small south-facing plot planted in 1992. They have some ancient (& younger) Grignolino vines, & in 2016 they planted their first Monferrato Nebbiolo vines. They also have a Barbera vineyard in the sand-rich comune of Mombercelli.
On joining his family, Samuele stopped the practice of using herbicides, & renovated the existing tino & botti grandi. He uses selective yeast, has introduced new tonneaux, & he prefers to vinify his Grignolino d’Asti without malolactic fermentation so as to retain as much freshness as possible.
The family recently invested in a GAI bottling machine, & they are trialling DIAM & Stelvin screw-cap closures, along with cork.
Originally from Piobesi d’Alba, il viticoltore Diego Rivetti’s family roots lie in the sedimentary marine sand of MGA Bricco di Piobesi, perched overlooking the village, from where he draws his Roero Arneis ‘Criculin’ (crichet/cocuzzolo), planted in 2010; plus in 2023 he planted a plot of Roero Nebbiolo, also on il Bricco. In vintage 2022 Diego started making an anfora-fermented Vino Bianco Arneis from his other Piobesi plot across the valley, MGA Montiglione, planted in 2012/2014 on darker, iron-rich, peachy soils underlain with chalk (there’s a quarry nearby).
More recently, he’s teamed up up with his old friend e compagna di scuola Elena Strada of Serralunga d’Alba – a Milanese surgeon – to produce two Nebbiolos from the village. Elena & sister Irene’s nonno, Guido Massa, worked with Serralunga’s Cappellano family before creating his own cantina – G.Massa – with his wife Elda Viberti on the corner of piazza Cappellano, which they subsequently sold to Palladino in the 1970s.
Fortunately, they kept three pieces of prime vineyard land in which to plant Nebbiolo: a 0.2ha plot of vertiginous East-facing Broglio below the cantina, a NW facing parcel of clay-cool 0.8ha Damiano (to make Langhe Nebbiolo ‘Elda’), & a 0.5ha South/SW-facing fazzoletto on the spur of Vignarionda that had been planted up until 1981, then left fallow until Diego & Elena replanted it in 2018.
Skip forward to vintage 2024, as Diego releases all 2k bts of the inaugural vintage 2020 Barolo del comune di Serralunga d’Alba (from the Vignarionda spur), along with 2021 Langhe Nebbiolo ‘Elda’ (from Damiano fruit), 2023 Roero Arneis ‘Criculin’, Piobesi d’Alba, & 2022 Vino Biano Arneis Anfora.
The wines are classically made, using selected yeast, using static, vertical fermenting tanks; after MLF in stainless-steel, in vintage 2020 the affinamento of the Barolo was in third passage tonneaux (400L) for 30 mths, moving to 15HL Garbellotto botte grande from 2021, before being bottled without clarifying & only a light filtration.
Soaring above la città of Dogliani at 480-520m asl lies the comune of Pianezzo, with its pretty chiesa di San Martino. This is also where the Valletti family are to be found. On predominantly marnoso-calcareo soils they tend 6ha of Dolcetto, Nebbiolo, Barbera, Timorasso, & more recently Liseiret (Gouais Blanc!) vines. They also buy some Freisa from a nearby biologico vyd, with a view to planting it in future…
Now onto their 5th generation: youngest son Roberto (nato ’85) officially joined his father Giacinto & brother Mauro in 2011, having completed Viticultural & Enological studies in Alba & Torino. In più, Roberto brought with him invaluable experience gathered whilst working in Burgundy (Dme. Armand Rousseau), Australia (Torbrek), & California (Lambert Bridge). They had begun commercializing their wines in 1988, in 2017 they stopped using herbicides (& witnessed a leap in fruit expression & joy!), & then in 2018 they changed the bottle from Bordelais to Albeisa.
Roberto makes two cuvees of Dogliani DOCG: one ‘Pianezzo’ blends the fruit from three versanti (West, Est, Sud-Est) in stainless steel, while the oldest, 60 yo vines of Dolcetto located on the steep ‘San Martino’ east-facing slope go into making their top, griotte-like Dogliani Superiore ‘Vescu’, which may or may not see a passage in wood (tonneaux/botte grande). The wines are very lightly clarified & filtered.
They also make a stand-out Langhe Bianco from Timorasso planted on their limestone-rich soils, & in 2023 produced their first demi-jon of Liseiret (Gouais Blanc) with its rapier-like acidity!
Located high up in the comune of Monteu Roero, the Moretti family of Giovanni e Mirella, son Adriano & zio Elio, are proud custodians of 22ha of agriculture land, fruit (fragole!) & vegetables…including 5ha of vineyards, comprising Arneis, Favorita, Barbera, & Nebbiolo.
The family originate from Occhetti below, but then transferred up to Monteu Roero in the 1960s under the supervision of Giovanni’s madre Daria, whose nickname was ‘Bajaj’.
Since 2014, Giovanni’s son Adriano has taken taken responsibility for the cantina & production of their wines, which are made from Monteu Roero vyds, notably Bric Nota, San Vincenzo, & Gaiuccio, with Nebbiolo Roero DOCG & Langhe Nebbiolo being the focus. Indeed their first commercial bottling under the ‘BAJAJ’ label came in 2015.
Monteu Roero soils are a mix of sabbia d’asti & superiore argilla di Lugagnano clay. At Adriano’s side is enologo Manuele Priolo – la sua braccia destra – while since 2019, super-agronomo Edmondo Bonelli has been advising them.
The wines are vinified using wild yeast/pied de cuve in a variety of vessels: stainless-steel, anfora, barriques, with minimal use of copper/rame, & re-assuring levels of sulphur (c. 70 mg/L totale).
They adopt a ‘subtractive’ approach to winemaking; that is they avoid all that they consider unnecessary to making their wines:
Their approach is to be as natural & respectful as possible, not only for the environment but also for their own health & of those working alongside them.
> Without excess; without extremes. In essence: “in medio stat virtus” – La virtù sta nel mezzo – virtue lies in the middle (Aristotle)
The Caligaris family cantina is tucked away in the centre of Gattinara, Alto Piemonte. They can trace their lineage back to the 1500s, & almost certainly to i tempi Romani, as ‘la càliga‘ was a type of sandal worn by Roman (soldiers) garrisoned nearby.
Luca Caligaris is now making the wines at this tiny family estate, assisted by his father Alessandro & mamma Rita. Luca started in 1997, continuing the family tradition passed down from nonno Guido. Luca has a diploma in Perito Agraria, & has studied Viticoltura & Enologia. He is in the process of renovating the ancient family home & cantina.
The family has circa 2ha, of which 1ha is dedicated to growing Nebbiolo da Gattinara in the vineyards of Lurghe, Marzole, & Osso; the latter 350m asl high up among the trees, full south on almost bare porfido rock. The vineyard work is ‘lotte integrato’, doesn’t use herbicides, & the fruit from the vineyards are co-fermented together at the cantina. Luca’s Gattinara comprises 100% Nebbiolo, but in some years he may incorporate a tiny percentage of Uva Rara (up to 10% is allowed in the DOCG). While the wild-growing luppolo (hops) is reserved for the ‘frittate‘!
They produce five wines: Vino ‘Rosso di Sara’ (named after his daughter, a blend of Nebbiolo + Uva Rara, Neretto, Vespolina, & Croatina), DOC Coste della Sesia Rosa di Martina (after the second daughter, a Rosato), DOC Coste della Sesia Nebbiolo (85/90% Nebbiolo), DOCG Gattinara (100% Nebbiolo), DOCG Gattinara Riserva (in exceptional annate).
The wines are classically made, 100% destemmed, fermented in stainless-steel &/or fibre glass, with 3wk long pumping over macerations + delestaggio, MLF in wood, followed by 2 years affinamento in 15/25HL botti for Gattinara. Total sulphur is circa 70mg/Litro at bottling. The new Gattinara vintage is released from 1st October of the third year.
Compared to the porphory & white caolino soils of Bramaterra to the west, the hill of Gattinara appears as a single block of porfido overlooking the river Sesia below, rich with pyrite iron crystals, producing wines of structure & longevity.
Originally from the Monforte d’Alba borgata of Sant’Anna, in 1968 the Seghesio family sold their cascina & moved to the centre of town, to where the cantina is now located, becoming commercianti wine makers. For many years, Renzo was also Sindaco di Monforte d’Alba, accompanied by his wife Maria Gabriella Contratto, whose family were partly from Narzole – her father Carluccio a famous ‘sarto’/tailor – while her mother was a Monfortina.
They have two sons: Federico (nato ’76) & Raffaele (’78), who now assist their parents as they complete a restructuring of the family cantina nel cuore del centro storico, to provide more space for ageing & bottle storage. Federico, an aerospatial engineer previously worked for Westland/Leonardo in China & the Middle East, while Raffaele is a surgeon at the new Verduno hospital.
From 1986, Renzo Seghesio started to buy the fruit from Cascina Pajana, on the eastern side of the Monforte d’Alba comune, eventually buying the 7ha plot in 1996; a plot that includes 1.3ha of steep South East-facing, 30yo vigna Pajana at 350m asl on white Formazione di Lequio limestone soils (similar to Serralunga d’Alba) & 1.8ha of 25yo West-facing Ginestra on more classic Langhe soils of Marne Sant’Agata fossili. From the broader Ginestra MGA they also produce a Barolo del comune di Monforte d’Alba.
Beyond Monforte d’Alba, yet still in the Langhe, the family also owns a 0.6ha plot of South facing, 6yo vigna Bricco Chiesa on warm sandy marne soils in the frazione of Santa Maria di La Morra (for Langhe Nebbiolo); plus since 2021 they have begun renting an older vine 1ha plot in Roggeri nearby, that provides fruit for their Barolo del comune di La Morra.
And in the Roero they own a single, 4ha anfiteatro plot of vigna Sanchè, that runs parallel to Valmaggiore in the comune of Vezza d’Alba, on predominantly Sabbia d’Asti over marne soils, for both Nebbiolo d’Alba & Roero Arneis.
In cantina, the fratelli are supported by a young local enologo, Andrea Taricco, while since 2020 they have been advised by Roberto Valletti, another young enologist from Dogliani. The wines are classically made, in static stainless-steel vats, using selected yeast, pumping over & on occasions, submerged cap. Vintage 2020 was also the year in which they invested in a new Pellenc destalker, plus two new 32HL Stockinger botti, alongside older Garbellotto 30HL barrels. They also use tonneaux for the Nebbiolo d’Alba & Barbera d’Alba; their Langhe Nebbiolo sees 18mths in botte grande. Carlo Arnulfo consults in the vyd.
They bottle at circa 80mg of total sulphur, using Lafitte & Amorim corks for their Barolo wines, & DIAM5/10 beeswax for Roero Arneis, Nebbiolo d’Alba & Langhe Nebbiolo.
Descended from crusading ‘Hospitaller’ knights (Knights of St.John, of Malta) who settled on Sicily during the 13th century, the famiglia Spitaleri of Muglia (EN) can claim to be the first wine merchants of the medieval age, once Islamic prohibition had ceased. They then flourished during the italian Rinascimento.
But in 1852 it was Barone Felice Spitaleri who took the initiative on returning from a ‘Grand Tour’ of France, & deciding in 1855 to plant 300ha on Monte Etna – the feud – to Bordeaux varieties (& Pinot Nero!); ironically the year of Bordeaux’s Classed Growth Classification. Spitaleri commissioned Padre Francesco Tornabene to plant the vineyards, while the design of the imposing Castello di Solicchiata was entrusted to Andrea Scala, architect of Catania’s Bellini teatro.
The vineyards lie on an ancient 1107 lava flow – mineral rich, nutrient poor – facing SW at between 800m – 1400m asl.
The subsequent wines received a Grand Honour diploma at the 1888 London Exhibition, followed by Gold Medals in Palermo (1889), Vienna (1890), Berlin (1892), Brussels (1893), & Milano (1894). The Savoia Royal House of Italia appointed the cantina an official supplier, hence their coat of arms on the label of Castello Solicchiata.
Skip forward to 1997 when the then latest generation of Spitaleri, Barone Arnaldo, along with his enologist fratello Felice, employed the service of legendary consultant Giacomo Tachis to relaunch their wines to the market.