The Langhe (Piemonte, Italy) wine region

The third annual Decanter Reader trip (Great Piemonte Reader Weekend) placed a small band of intrepid wine enthusiasts deep into the wilds of the Langhe region to test their resolve and ability to survive an avalanche of information, food, and wines of the region.  This post is intended to provide the lens through which all future posts on the topic should be viewed.

Piemonte is one of the most highly regarded Italian wine regions, a reputation due, in large part, to the stellar wines produced in its Langhe sub-region. The Langhe (tongues of land) is separated from the Roero sub-region by the Tanaro River and is characterized by long, steep-sided hill slopes that are separated one from the other by a series of narrow valleys.

The climate in the Langhe is continental with warm Mediterranean air from the Ligurian Sea moderating somewhat the effects of cold air coming off the Alps to the north.  Weather varies from year to year resulting in appreciable vintage variation.  Hailstorms are an appreciable risk with the potential for associated crop loss.

When the Padano Sea retreated from what is today's Langhe, it left behind layers of clay, calcareous marl, blue marl, tufa, sand, and sulfur-bearing chalk.  This soil is credited with bestowing structure and finesse on the areas full-bodied reds.

The primary grape varieties grown in Langhe are shown in the table below. 

Nebbiolo, the variety used in the region's famed Barolo and Barbaresco wines, is considered Italy's most noble grape.  Its name is thought to derive from the Italian word for fog, a condition which is common in Barolo during the September-October maturation period of the variety. The grape requires the warmest sites in order to ensure full ripening. There is significantly more Barbera planted in Langhe than Nebbiolo. This variety is vigorous, high in acid, and resistant to fungal disease and its retiring aroma (plus acidity) renders it an excellent blending wine. When cropped for quality this grape can show aromas of red fruits, currants, and blackberries.  Dolcetto -- the little sweet one -- is an early ripening variety which is low in acid but high in tannins.  It is however, considered much more approachable than its rich cousins and serves as the everyday drinking wine of the Piedmontese.  This variety is characterized by aromas of ripe blackberries and plums.  Moscato Bianco is a white grape that is the fourth most planted variety in Italy.  Known by a number of names, the resulting wines tend to be fizzy or sparkling and produce aromas of lychee and rose petals.

Barolo DOCG Soils
Barolo wines are produced from Nebbiolo grapes grown on the hillsides to the southwest of Alba in five key communes and parts of five sub-zones.  The substrates of the hills are marine sedimentary deposits that formed in the Miocene epoch (23 - 5 million years ago). These deposits are composed primarily of white- to blue-colored compacted marl and calcareous clay and are more- or less-resistant to water penetration depending on the sand-to-clay ratio.

The Barolo zone is divided into two soil subzones based on the age of the deposits. To the west, the soils around the towns of Barolo and La Morra are composed of a calcareous (limestone-rich) marl with high levels of sand -- referred to as Tortonian (11 - 7 million years ago) -- that yields aromatic, elegant, medium-bodied wines which evolve in the bottle earlier than their counterparts.  The wines from the Barolo commune are thought to be more complex, and broader in texture, than the more perfumed and graceful La Morra wines. 

The Langhian (until the 1960s, Helvetian) soil around the communes of Serralunga d'Alba, Monforte d'Alba, and Castiglione Falletto was deposited between 16 and 13 million years ago. The soils of this zone are mostly calcareous clay marls with little sand content and produces a wine that is more structured and requires longer aging.

Serralunga d'Alba

Serralunga d'Alba is a small, medieval village in the Langhe region of Piedmont that is 7100 meters long, 1800 meters wide at its widest point, sits on a hill 414 meters above sea level, and serves as the eastern flank of the Barolo wine production zone.  According to massolini.it, Serralunga d'Alba is one of only three of the 11 Barolo communes that are contained in their entirety within the production zone (the remaining two are Barolo and Castiglione Falletto).

According to Gambero Rosso (Serralunga Barolo: The unrushable wine; gamberorosso.it), Serralunga d'Alba has "compact, sandstone-based soils dating from the Helvetian period."  These soils are high in sand, limestone, iron, phosphorous, and potassium and, as a result, produce wines that are intense and structured and that need time to mature.

Click here for a detailed map of the Barolo wine-growing region.

Barbaresco DOCG

Barbaresco wines are produced from grapes grown on the steep, pre-alpine hillsides of four small villages located to the northeast of Alba.  The grapes are grown on limestone rich marl soils on south-facing exposures with elevation in excess of 200 meters.  The climate in the Barbaresco growing area is warmer and drier than in Barolo, allowing the grapes to ripen earlier and the resulting wines to be less tannic and more approachable.  Barbaresco wines are known for their rich, spicy flavors and perfumed sweetness.

A summary of the DOCG and DOC wines produced in Langhe is provided in the table below.


©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Secrets to Making Great Barbera

Last Sunday I attended the subject seminar which highlighted the philosophy underlying the Vietti Family Winery Barberas.  The seminar, a part of B-21s Annual Italian Grand Tasting and Sale, was led by Aldo Zaninotto of Vietti Family Winery.

According to Aldo, Piedmont is in the northwest corner of Italy and, being only 20 minutes travel from the Alps, the food and language of the region is heavily influenced by France.  In pointing out the heavy regionality of Italian wines, Aldo laughingly said that the country had only been united since 1871 and was "one country with 30 different states."

After Phylloxera had ravaged the Italian wine industry in the mid-1850s, the grape that was replanted was Barbera. This grape varietal was used to make an everyday drinking wine.  There are three Barbera zones: Alba, Asti, and Monferrato.  Alba has very complex soils, resulting from erosion of old mountains, and tends to produce powerful wines.  Asti wines tend to be more "feminine" and elegant.  Monferrato has soil that is comprised of clay, sand and rock and the wines are not as complex as the wines from Asti and Alba.

The Vietti family name goes back to the 600s but the family produced its first wine in 1876.  In 1890, the eldest son was given control of the estate and the youngest son came to America.  The oldest brother was killed in World War I and the younger brother was recalled to run the estate.  He was successful and re-invested by buying land in the region and, today, the company is a patchwork of sites totaling 87 hectares.

Unlike wineries who engage "fly-in" consultants, the Vietti's touch the wine.  The owner works in the vineyard and then goes to the cellar to make the wine.  The wine-making philosophy is to use the least amount of grapes possible to get the best quality wine.  This philosophy begins in the vineyard where high-density planting is employed. The Vietti's feel that the high density, plus no irrigation, forces competition for resources and causes the vines to penetrate deep into the subsoil.  As the vines go deeper, they tap into more complex minerals and this complexity is funneled up to the grapes.  They begin with 8 clusters per vine but green harvest in August to get rid of the three to four of the largest clusters.  The discarded clusters are left on the ground as fertilizer.  A second green harvest clips the elongated part of the cluster leaving only the "heart" of the cluster for harvesting.

We tasted four Vietta wines as a part of the seminar:  2007 Vietti Barbera d'Asti TreVigne ($15.99); 2007 Vietti Barbera d' Alba TreVigne ($19.99); 2007 Vietti Barbera d'Asti la Crema ($39.99); and 2006 Vietti Barbera d'Alba Scarrone ($39.99).  According to Aldo, the company puts a lot of effort into its entry-level wines because if the consumer likes these wines, they will try the higher-end wines (The winery also makes Barolos).  The TreVigne is made from grapes grown on three estate-owned vineyards.  In the case of the Asti, we get red cherries with good structure and mouthfeel.  The wine has been aged for 6 months in neutral oak and an additional 2 months in Barriques.  The Alba also shows red fruit but is more concentrated than the Asti.  Both of these wines should be drunk within 4 years.  The Scarrone and la Crema are single-vineyard offerings with greater ageability.   Scarrone is one of the oldest Barbera vineyards in that it dates back to 1918.  Both of these wines exhibit great complexity (soil characteristics) and concentration (vineyard practices, harvest time, skin contact).   I purchased both of the single-vineyard wines.