The regions · Italy
Piedmont: Barolo, Barbera and Moscato at the foot of the Alps
Piedmont is the region in northwestern Italy, up against the Alps, that gives us Barolo, Barbaresco, Barbera and Moscato d'Asti. Here, the custom is to make wine from a single grape, and every hill has its own name on the label. It's also the land of the white truffle of Alba and of hazelnuts: wine is only half of the Piedmontese table.
Where it is and what the place is like
The heart of Piedmontese wine is three hill areas: Langhe, Roero and Monferrato, in the south of the region, between the Alps and the Ligurian coast. The name Langhe is Celtic and means tongues of land: they're long, parallel hills, with deep, narrow valleys between them. In 2014, this vineyard landscape became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The climate of the Langhe is cool temperate, with harsh winters and hot summers. The Alps give shelter, and from the Ligurian Sea comes milder, more humid air. The ground is an ancient seabed: sediments that piled up between about 12 and 5 million years ago and turned into marl, a mix of limestone and clay, with bands of sand. Each hill has its own soil, and that's why the wine changes from one hill to the next.
The region's grapes
Piedmont is a land of native grapes. The queen is Nebbiolo, the red of Barolo, Barbaresco, Roero and Nebbiolo d'Alba. The most planted is Barbera: according to the Barbera d'Asti consortium, it covers about 30% of the region's 43,000 hectares of vineyards. There's also Dolcetto, Freisa and Grignolino among the reds, and Brachetto, which goes into Asti rosé.
Among the whites, Moscato Bianco is the most famous: it's the grape of Asti and Moscato d'Asti. Cortese makes Gavi, in the southeast of the region. Arneis is the white of Roero. And international grapes show up too, like Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and they can carry the grape's name on the label, as the Piemonte DOC allows.
What wine comes from there
The age-worthy red is what made its name: Barolo and Barbaresco are pure Nebbiolo, garnet in color, with aromas of rose, cherry and spice, and elegant tannin, that grip on your gums that asks for time and food. Barbera is the everyday red, with high acidity (your mouth watering) and blackberry, cherry and strawberry fruit; there are fresher versions, from steel tanks, and versions with barrel aging. Dolcetto is a young, fruity red, with a little almond bitterness at the end.
And there's the sweet sparkling wine the world knows. Asti Spumante is made from Moscato and can come out anywhere from brut nature to sweet. Moscato d'Asti is lightly sparkling: fermentation stops when the wine reaches about 5% alcohol, and the grape's own sugar is left over. On the other side, Gavi is a dry, fresh white, with fruit and white flowers.
What the label says
The Italian ladder applies here: DOC (Controlled Designation of Origin) has a zone and rules; DOCG (Controlled and Guaranteed Designation of Origin) is the step above, with stricter rules and a check on every bottle. According to the Italian Ministry of Agriculture's list, Piedmont has 19 DOCGs and 41 DOCs. Riserva means more waiting time before it's sold. And many bottles carry the grape's name next to the place: Barbera d'Alba is Barbera from Alba; Barbera d'Asti, from Asti.
The names that show up most, and what they mean:
- Barolo DOCG: pure Nebbiolo, in 11 municipalities south of Alba. It waits at least three years and two months, a year and a half in oak; Riserva, five years. Since 2010 the label can carry the name of the official vineyard, the Additional Geographical Mention.
- Barbaresco DOCG: pure Nebbiolo, in Barbaresco, Neive, Treiso and part of Alba. It waits at least two years, nine months in oak; Riserva, four.
- Langhe DOC: the broad appellation of the Langhe and Roero, 96 municipalities. It accepts single-grape wines or blends, including Langhe Nebbiolo, Langhe Rosso and Langhe Bianco.
- Roero DOCG: the Roero red is at least 95% Nebbiolo; Roero Arneis, at least 95% Arneis.
- Barbera d'Asti DOCG: at least 90% Barbera, in the provinces of Asti and Alessandria. The Superiore version waits at least 14 months, six of them in wood. Nizza, which used to be a subzone, became its own DOCG.
- Asti DOCG: the Moscato Bianco of 51 municipalities in the provinces of Asti, Alessandria and Cuneo, in three versions: Asti Spumante, Asti Rosé and Moscato d'Asti.
- Gavi DOCG (or Cortese di Gavi): the white from the Cortese grape, in 11 municipalities in the province of Alessandria, in still, lightly sparkling, sparkling and Riserva versions.
- Piemonte DOC: the appellation for the whole region, created at the end of 1994, for red, white and rosé, with or without a grape name.
What it pairs with
Barolo and Barbaresco call for hearty dishes and time: pot roast, oven-baked ribs, lamb, mushroom risotto, aged cheese. On their home turf, the partner is white truffle. Barbera is the wild card of the Brazilian table: its acidity gets along with tomato sauce, so it goes with pizza, lasagna, pasta and linguiça sausage. Dolcetto goes with a cold-cuts board. Gavi goes with fish, chicken and pasta with pesto. And Moscato d'Asti, chilled and low in alcohol, rounds off lunch with panettone, fruitcake or fruit salad. All suggestions: liked another pairing? Go with that one.
The count, the marchioness and the king of wines
Barolo as we know it today was born in the mid-19th century, according to the Langhe consortium, thanks to the stubbornness of Camillo Benso, the Count of Cavour, and of Giulia Colbert Falletti, the last Marchioness of Barolo. The wine became the ambassador of the House of Savoy's Piedmont at the courts of Europe, and that's where the nickname stuck: the king of wines, the wine of kings.
On the other side of Alba, in the same period, Professor Domizio Cavazza, the first director of the Enological School of Alba, helped define Barbaresco. The name comes from the Latin barbarica silva, the forest of the barbarians, as the Romans called the dense woods where the Ligurians hid. The two reds went hand in hand: a consortium in 1934, DOC in 1966 and DOCG in 1980.
The grapes in the labels from here
Across the 899 Piedmont labels in the search, the grapes that show up most. The number is how many labels use each one.
Top rated from Piedmont
Average rating from the people who drank it (X-Wines), from 1 to 5. Tap to see the wine's page.
- Giacomo Conterno Barolo Riserva Monfortinorating ★ 4.8
- Giuseppe Rinaldi Cannubi San Lorenzo-Ravera Barolorating ★ 4.7
- Gaja Costa Russi (Barbaresco) Langherating ★ 4.7
- Gaja Sorì Tildìn (Barbaresco) Langherating ★ 4.7
- Gaja Sperss Barolorating ★ 4.7
- Gaja Sorì San Lorenzorating ★ 4.6
- Aldo Conterno Barolo Bussia Romirascorating ★ 4.6
- Giuseppe Rinaldi Brunate-Le Coste Barolorating ★ 4.6
See the Piedmont labels in the search →
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