Alto Piemonte Nebbiolo report and top picks

Alto Piemonte is the collective term for several small DOCs in northern Piedmont, situated almost 100 miles northeast of Alba. It includes Boca, Bramaterra, Faro, Gattinara, Ghemme, Lessona and Sizzano. Through the middle of this cluster of vineyards runs the Sesia river.

The major threat in this area today is hail. On 30 June 2021, ‘the hail in some vineyards did not even spare the grass,’ stated Lorella Zoppis Antoniolo, co-owner of Antoniolo winery in Gattinara. More and more producers are setting nets to protect against hail, even on small estates such as Tenuta Guardasola in Boca.

That said, Alto Piemonte is benefitting from a generally warmer climate which increases concentration and with it, the complexity of these great wines. Nebbiolo in Alto Piemonte unveils another layer due to the soils, which are assertively volcanic. In Bramaterra, for example, the wines are characteristically smoky, although this can also be found in wines from Gattinara, Boca and Lessona.

See also: Aldo’s latest-release Langhe Nebbiolo tasting notes

‘The increase in concentration is evident in vintages such as 2016. ‘This is a year with a great perspective,’ commented Leonardo Valenti, professor of viticulture and winemaking at the University of Milan and consultant at Torraccia del Piantavigna. ‘Wines from 2016 will give their best over the next year, now they have just been bottled. That vintage was not an ordinary harvest. It seemed to be delayed but instead finished great and recovered right in time. The last few weeks of ripening were perfect, which is why the wines are so great.’

The 2017 vintage clearly demonstrates how climate change is increasing the quality of wines from Alto Piemonte. While the vintage was too dry in the Langhe, the quantity of rainfall in Alto Piemonte turned it into something promising. There are, admittedly, dry tannins that appear in many of the wines, but nevertheless wines from the likes of Antoniolo, Travaglini and Cantina del Signore are all showing extremely well.

The warmer climate is very helpful for ripening Prunent, a biotype of Nebbiolo from the cool Ossola valley at the northermost part of Piedmont where the Garrone brothers are working with skill and passion, producing wines of great elegance. It’s also helpful for supporting varieties often blended with Nebbiolo – mostly in Boca and Bramaterra – such as Vespolina, Croatina and Uva Rara, improving the assertive peppery character of the former and the tannin quality of the two latter varieties. As in the Langhe, 2017 will be a vintage with a decidedly shorter drinking window, while 2018 is leaner and 2019 seems promising if not great; but it’s too raw right now to evaluate.

The key appellations of Alto Piemonte

Wines from Gattinara DOCG most of the time have the ability to match power with elegance.

Boca DOC is produced using Nebbiolo with the addition of Vespolina which brings a distinct spiciness to it.

Croatina – which is not allowed in Boca – is often a partner in Bramaterra DOC, with its pronounced fruit concentration, while Uva Rara is always good for softening wines.

While Ghemme DOCG, Fara DOC and Sizzano DOC are based on mostly sandy soils, Gattinara, Boca and part of Bramaterra are often referred to as ‘vini delle rocce’, or ‘wines from stone’, because of the minerality derived from the underlying volcanic or porfidic soils.

Aldo’s top Nebbiolo picks from Alto Piemonte

Wines tasted in February 2022 in Alba at the annual Nebbiolo Prima event, the vintage preview organised by Consorzio Albeisa

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