Introduction
The Region
The territory of the Nebbiolo denominations of Alto Piemonte was formed by two fundamental events whose scale is difficult to imagine. The first was the eruption of the Valsesia supervolcano. It occurred 282 million years ago and is classified as 8, the top band of the Volcanic Explosivity Index. (For the sake of comparison, the famous eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE, which destroyed Pompeii, is classified as 6.) When the Valsesia supervolcano erupted, it is believed to have discharged approximately 775 cubic kilometres of rock and ash, creating a caldera more than 15 kilometres in diameter. The caldera is now partly covered by younger sedimentary deposits of the Po plain. The supervolcano is no longer active.
The second process started when Pangea, a single continent with many volcanoes, began to divide. After the creation of what became Africa and Europe, tectonic shifts led to the two continents colliding about 30 million years ago, with a massive uplift creating the Alps. As a result, what is now the UNESCO-recognised Sesia-Valgrande Geo Park contains the remains of the earth’s crust pushed to the surface from a depth of about 25 kilometres. As a result, parts of Alto Piemonte have subsoils of volcanic origin.
The next phase was the advance and retreat of glaciers and erosion over millennia, which created a very complex soil system in a relatively small area. As a result of this geological history, the soils of Alto Piemonte are very diverse. They include soils formed from rock and porphyry of volcanic origin, marine sands, clays and occasionally gravel, plus alluvial deposits. As will be seen, some areas are marked by the presence of volcanic soils, while others are not.
To the north of Alto Piemonte, in the Alps themselves, Monte Rosa, at 4,634 m, is the second-highest mountain in Europe. It protects the region from cold northern winds and storms. The Sesia River flows down from the Alps and neatly bisects the area. The denominations of Gattinara, Bramaterra, and Lessona lie to the west of the river, while Boca, Ghemme, Sizzano, and Fara lie to the east. The small vineyard area of Valli Ossolane is 90 kilometres north of Gattinara.
While it is commonly said that Alto Piemonte is cooler because it is higher in elevation than Barolo, this is incorrect. Perhaps it is the Alps towering above the region that created this misunderstanding. The vineyards here range from 275 m (Ghemme) via Gattinara (290–460 m) to Boca (rises to 520 m). This is the same range found in Barolo, where the vineyards of La Morra rise to 535m. However, in Alto Piemonte, cold air descending from the mountains meets warm air from the plain of the Po River to the south. This combination creates marginally cooler conditions than in Barolo. In today’s warmer climate, these are excellent growing conditions, with warm days in summer and cool nights.
The single best indicator of the temperature of a wine region is the average growing season temperature (GST), the average of the monthly averages from April to October. In the decade to 2022, the GST in Ghemme (Alto Piemonte) was 18.72ºC (65.69ºF), only slightly cooler than La Morra (19.31ºC or 66.75ºF). The highest vineyards in both denominations will, of course, be somewhat cooler. Both figures are at the top of Gregory Jones’s ‘warm’ climate band for grapevines. This band suits grape varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese and Grenache, while Nebbiolo straddles the ‘warm’ and ‘hot’ bands.
Alto Piemonte, however, has much more rainfall than further south in Piemonte. In the same recent decade, including the exceptionally dry years of 2017 and 2022, Ghemme averaged 1,194 mm of rain annually. By comparison, La Morra averaged 882 mm. Significantly, much of the additional rainfall falls in the growing season, even if the peak in both regions is in November:
This pattern favours Alto Piemonte in dry years. Even in the drought-like conditions of 2022, there was four times as much rain in September in Ghemme as in La Morra. However, in wet years, such as 2014, nearly twice as much rain fell in Ghemme as in La Morra.
Historically, Alto Piemonte was a major producer of wine in Piemonte and was far more important than the Langhe. At the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, there were said to be 40,000 hectares under vine. (This is approximately the same area under vine as in Piemonte as a whole today.) The wine was consumed in the countryside, sold in the major Italian cities of Milan and Turin and was sent to northern Europe via the passes through the Alps and later by railway. There was also critical acclaim for the wines. Count Cavour, a leading figure in the movement for Italian unification, writing a letter to a lawyer, stated that the wines of Sizzano and of the hills of Novara can compete with those of Clos Vougeot and Romanet (sic) in Burgundy.
However, a series of events led to a huge reduction in the number of hectares farmed. Both powdery and downy mildew arrived in the second half of the nineteenth century, initially devastating the vineyards before remedies were established. This was followed from 1886 onwards by phylloxera. 1904–05 saw further losses due to hailstorms and a devasting frost. By the time of the Second World War, the vineyard was much reduced, and this only accelerated after the Second World War when many workers continued to leave the countryside to look for jobs in nearby cities: Biella (textiles), Ivrea (Olivetti) and Turin (Fiat). Others emigrated, especially to the USA. As a result, the great majority of vineyards were abandoned. Small family plots and a few larger estates, such as Tenute Sella, remained. It is only recently that there has been renewed interest in viticulture following the worldwide success of Nebbiolo wines from the Langhe in southern Piemonte. Even so, the scale of the recovery has been small. Today, a total of 770 ha of land vineyards are registered in Alto Piemonte, of which 520 are for DOC(G) wines.
The Denominations
Gattinara, Bramaterra and Lessona are on the western side of the Sesia river, while Ghemme and Boca are located on the eastern side. All the denominations are protected from bad weather by Monte Rosa to the north; they all benefit from cold air coming down from the Alps and the constant breezes that reduce the pressure of disease in the vineyards.
All the denominations make wine with the Nebbiolo variety, locally called Spanna. There is no agreement on the origin of this name. One suggestion is that it may refer to the typical length of the Nebbiolo cluster, as in English, the ‘span’ of the human hand. Another suggestion is that the name comes from ‘Spionia’, a grape mentioned by the Roman writer Martial, but not with reference to Piemonte.
In some denominations, the wines can be 100 per cent Nebbiolo plus local varieties, while in others, they must be Nebbiolo blends with named local varieties.
Barbaresco
The Barbaresco denomination, like Barolo, is the source of very high-quality Nebbiolo wines. It is to be found 15 minutes by car northeast of the city of Alba. To qualify as Barbaresco, 100 per cent Nebbiolo grapes must be grown within the delimited area that includes the entire communes of Barbaresco, Neive and Treiso, plus the hamlet of San Rocco Seno d’Elvio, which for administrative purposes is within the commune of Alba.
Barolo
Known as the king of wines, it is potent, complex and long-lived wine made from the Nebbiolo grape. The appellation is spread over 2,134 ha in total and consists of several villages and communes. divided into a multitude of individual vineyard sites and crus similar to Burgundy, with many producers owning small plots of the individual crus.
Boca
Boca DOC is a small denomination less than ten miles north of Ghemme on the eastern side of the Sesia river. The denomination takes in the commune of Boca and parts of four others. Currently, 17 hectares are in production. Despite being on the eastern side of the river, Boca’s soils are volcanic in origin and share the porphyry of Bramaterra. The soil is very stony and poor in nutrients.
Bramaterra
To the west of Gattinara, Bramaterra DOC is a denomination of seven communes, the largest of which are Masserano and Brusnengo. The name of the denomination comes from a large farmhouse within the denomination that belongs to the historic Sella family, who, over the centuries, have been involved in trade, banking, agriculture and wine.
Caluso
At the heart of the Canavese area is the specialist denomination Erbaluce di Caluso, or simply Caluso DOCG. This horseshoe-shaped denomination follows the outline of the moraine–the largest in Europe–left by ancient retreating glaciers. They created a natural amphitheatre of 530 square kilometres at an elevation of between 200 and 850 metres.
Canavese
Canavese is the name of the region that includes Caluso and Carema but stretches far beyond these two important wine centres to include 106 communes. As the area is large, it is difficult to generalise about viticulture here, though rainfall is significantly higher than in southern Piemonte at an average of 1,100 millimetres a year.
Carema
This is a small but special DOC, the only one devoted solely to Nebbiolo wines in Canavese, one hour by car north of Turin. Here, Nebbiolo is known as Picotener, its name in the neighbouring region of Valle d’Aosta. The village of Carema serves as the gateway between Piemonte and Valle d’Aosta. Its strategic position delivers spectacular views to both the north and the south, and of the steep, rocky slope on which the terraced vineyards are to be found.
Gattinara
Despite its importance today, the history of vine-growing in Gattinara is somewhat obscure. While there is evidence of Roman presence in the area in general, it is only in the medieval period that the town becomes prominent. The Marquis of Gattinara, Mercurino Arborio, politician, diplomat and latterly cardinal (b.1465, d. 1530), donated barrels of wine to the main European courts.
Ghemme
Ghemme DOCG is a medium-sized denomination on the eastern side of the Sesia river. The delimited area includes the commune of Ghemme and a part of Romagnano Sesia, which is directly across the river from Gattinara. Today, just over 50 hectares are in production. The clay, decomposed granite, and quartz soils here were left by the retreat of the glaciers from Monte Rosa. Ghemme received its DOC status in 1969 and became a DOCG in 1997.
Lessona
Lessona DOC is a relatively small denomination to the west of Bramaterra, the most westerly of the specialist Alto Piemonte denominations. In 1671, Comino Sella bought land and vineyards in Lessona with money earned in the family’s industrial textiles business. This is the beginning of Tenute Sella, the earliest documented wine estate in Alto Piemonte, which continues today.
Valtellina
Valtellina is the only specialist Nebbiolo denomination outside of Piemonte in neighbouring Lombardy. Its main town, Sondrio, is 160 kilometres northeast of Milan and 50 kilometres east of Lake Como. The vineyard area is situated on the north side of a broad, glacial valley.
Valli Ossolane
To the north of Alto Piemonte, in the Alps themselves, Monte Rosa, at 4,634 m, is the second-highest mountain in Europe. It protects the region from cold northern winds and storms. The Sesia River flows down from the Alps and neatly bisects the area. The denominations of Gattinara, Bramaterra, and Lessona lie to the west of the river, while Boca, Ghemme, Sizzano, and Fara lie to the east. The small vineyard area of Valli Ossolane is 90 kilometres north of Gattinara.