Piedmont wines

[Daniele96]

I decided to start this discussion to let you know better the fantastic world of piedmontese wines. Italian winemaking companies is very different from the one of USA and of other countries all over the world. In Piedmont we have the first wine area (Langhe, Roero, Monferrato, Asti, Acqui Terme) to be declared world heritage by UNESCO for its foods and wines. The winemaking designed the landscape of the hills of this area famous throughout the world for their famous vineyards. It is in these vineyards that the Barolo is born, the wine of the Kings of Italy, the no less valuable Barbaresco, the many variations of nebbiolo and barbera, the most recent but no less valid Ruchè produced only in five countries, the "Gamba di Pernice "niche wine that has saved a grape cultivar once used to be dried and consumed at Christmas holidays and which today is produced only in Calosso (AT), Costigliole (AT) and Castagnole Lanze (AT). Not to mention whites like Arneis, cortese, Moscato d'Asti and spumanti, Asti docg and "Alta Langa", a classic method that derives from them. And how to forget about the grignolino, a peasant wine once appreciated today as a table wine, and of the numerous rosè.

 

[Daniele96]

Some bottles from my collection

 

[Yooper]

LOVE the nebbiolo grape wines!

I knew about the nebbiolo wines, but not the variety- thank you for that.

In May, I learned about vernaccia from San Gimignano which I had never heard of, and of course I drank plenty of brunello. Those are two wines that I have never seen in the US, at least not a brunello at a good price.

Next time, I have to visit the Piedmont region, apparently, and leave Tuscany behind. I did try a few Ligurian wines while in the Cinque Terre.

 

[Daniele96]

LOVE the nebbiolo grape wines!

I knew about the nebbiolo wines, but not the variety- thank you for that.

In May, I learned about vernaccia from San Gimignano which I had never heard of, and of course I drank plenty of brunello. Those are two wines that I have never seen in the US, at least not a brunello at a good price.

Next time, I have to visit the Piedmont region, apparently, and leave Tuscany behind. I did try a few Ligurian wines while in the Cinque Terre.

You should visit Piedmont in Autumn or in August/September. There are also some event like Palio di Asti and a lot of local festivals about food and wine like Festival delle Sagre astigiane (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asti's_Festival_of_Festivals) or Douja d'Or about wine. In Autumn there is the grape harvest and also the festivals of truffles. But I will write more on this discussion in future.

 

[Daniele96]

Bad news from Piedmont vineyards
Last weekend a wave of intense storms struck the northern part of the Province of Asti, in the Nebbiolo Monferrato DOC area, also involving an area of considerable extension in the bordering territories of Langhe and Roero. These areas base their economy mainly on the renowned wines for which they are now known in much of the world but unfortunately hail was enough to ruin a year's work, as those who do this job know well. With climatic changes, abnormal temperatures and weather events are more and more frequent in this period and waiting for serious solutions you can not do anything but walk in the vineyards hit by the destructive force of nature, savoring the strong smell of defeat which in these hills has the flavor of grape must. Hail has in fact destroyed most of the ripe grapes and some producers have recorded losses of up to 100% which means a very serious damage to the local economy.

 

[Daniele96]

BAROLO IS FRENCH. Today we talk about the most expensive and prized Piedmontese wines. And how to start better than remembering that the name Barolo was a French invention. From the distant past, noble families produced wine in the hills of southern Piedmont, including the Marchetti Falletti di Barolo. In 1806 Juliette Colbert, a French aristocrat, married Carlo Tancredi Falletti of Barolo. The Marchesa, remembered more and fortunately for the great philanthropy, invented the name Barolo, a wine that was already produced, linking it to the territory (that of her husband ...). To promote it a communication operation that today would be called "sampling": 500 liters a day for 365 days given to Carlo Alberto, to appreciate its qualities, to the court and to many Italian and European aristocrats, ambassadors and personalities of passage. Today Barolo can be produced only in a few countries in the Province of Cuneo and with a very strict production discipline: 100% Nebbiolo grapes, maximum density of vineyards established by law and strictly Guyot breeding method. The harvest is at most 90 quintals of grapes per hectare and the yield in wine must not exceed 70 liters per quintal. After fermentation a long period of aging in oak barrels must pass, following the imprint given by the Marchesa di Barolo and inspired by the great French wines and then a second period of maturation in the bottle.

 

[Masbustelo]

Thank You Daniele Very Interesting. I have 150 linear feet of US Northern hybrid red grapes for home production.

 

[Yooper]

Bad news from Piedmont vineyards
Last weekend a wave of intense storms struck the northern part of the Province of Asti, in the Nebbiolo Monferrato DOC area, also involving an area of considerable extension in the bordering territories of Langhe and Roero

Oh, no- that's terrible for the growers and people involved in the wine industry. I'm so surprised, and it's so sad.

 

[Daniele96]

Thank You Daniele Very Interesting. I have 150 linear feet of US Northern hybrid red grapes for home production.

If you are interested on wine follow this talk. I will post other thing, once or twice a week.

 

[Daniele96]

Unfortunately these are the risks of this job.

Oh, no- that's terrible for the growers and people involved in the wine industry. I'm so surprised, and it's so sad.

 

[Daniele96]

THE CALIFORNIAN WINE IS OF ROCCA D'ARAZZO


Before publishing the post on Barbaresco wine this week I wanted to add this excursus on Californian wine that, as a part of the inhabitants of that area, has Piedmontese origins.
Today we are talking about a story that is partly intertwined with that of my family. What better occasion than the period of the wine competition of the Douja d'Or to mention the story of a great Asti citizen. Giuseppe Ollino (a countryman and distantly related to my grandfather's great-grandfather as well as an agronomist and expert in the cultivation of vines) from Santa Caterina di Rocca d'Arazzo. It was 1880 when he decided to move to California in the county of Somona, to cultivate the vine. Barbera of course. Found the land, hilly, taken to sales because it was not suitable for typical local agriculture, and a financier (Andrea Sbarboro, Ligurian entrepreneur) together with Swiss and American capitals, founded in 1881 a sort of Company Town, an autonomous community to which he gave his name Asti Winery Italian Swiss Colony. In a few years he sent three hundred thousand cuttings from Italy and was joined by hundreds of countrymen (among them also two brothers of my ancestor, one of whom stopped in America where he gave birth to the American branch of the family). In a short time the winery reached colossal dimensions and still today it is one of the largest and most important in America. The valley from Clovendale to Oakland is still called Asti Wine Country. In 2015 Asti Winery was acquired by the colossus of the giants, E&J Gallo Winery, the largest winery in the world, belonging to the Gallo da Agliano Terme family (a few km from Rocca d'Arazzo), but this is another story .. .

 

[Gadjobrinus]

Bad news from Piedmont vineyards
Last weekend a wave of intense storms struck the northern part of the Province of Asti, in the Nebbiolo Monferrato DOC area, also involving an area of considerable extension in the bordering territories of Langhe and Roero. These areas base their economy mainly on the renowned wines for which they are now known in much of the world but unfortunately hail was enough to ruin a year's work, as those who do this job know well. With climatic changes, abnormal temperatures and weather events are more and more frequent in this period and waiting for serious solutions you can not do anything but walk in the vineyards hit by the destructive force of nature, savoring the strong smell of defeat which in these hills has the flavor of grape must. Hail has in fact destroyed most of the ripe grapes and some producers have recorded losses of up to 100% which means a very serious damage to the local economy.View attachment 643781

I am so, so sorry. That wrenches the heart as I know how hard vintners work and to have a harvest ruined like this is catastrophic. Every time a climate change denier and I speak, I usually talk about real-world impact that can be seen, and usually, that means winemaking. My cousin is a respected California winemaker but with water being such a war, now, and CA fires being the future, he left the scale he was working on to focus on very limited production. It's just terrible. Cold-weather grapes are being pushed ever farther north.

I'm just very devastated to see this. I hope the people in your area can hang on. I love your wines. I also love Piedmontese beef.

 

[Daniele96]

I am so, so sorry. That wrenches the heart as I know how hard vintners work and to have a harvest ruined like this is catastrophic. Every time a climate change denier and I speak, I usually talk about real-world impact that can be seen, and usually, that means winemaking. My cousin is a respected California winemaker but with water being such a war, now, and CA fires being the future, he left the scale he was working on to focus on very limited production. It's just terrible. Cold-weather grapes are being pushed ever farther north.

I'm just very devastated to see this. I hope the people in your area can hang on. I love your wines. I also love Piedmontese beef.

Fassona is simply fantastic

 

[Daniele96]

Unfortunately I had been very busy in these last 3 months because my grandpa died the second week of October and I have a lot of work to do.

 

[Daniele96]

As soon as possible I will post some other news about wine

 

[Daniele96]

I apologize for my absence but as I said in a previous post my grandfather passed away last October and now I run his farm. I have been very busy but tomorrow I will post a short tale about one of our most famous wines: Asti Spumante DOCG. Its arms is a knight with the Asti Prince-bishop flag (which is also the arms of Asti). The knight is the symbol of our patron, Saint Secondo, a Roman soldier and early Christian martyr. Very important is also the riding school of Asti, of which the Spumante symbol is an indirectly endorsement.