Alto Piemonte: Small Is Beautiful

BY ANTONIO GALLONI | FEBRUARY 06, 2024

Alto Piemonte remains one of the most glorious, under the radar regions in the world. Wines of delicacy and transparency communicate the essence of site in the handful of villages that comprise this series of small appellations in Northern Italy. Many estates featured in this report are quite small, making some bottles hard to find. Nevertheless, consumers and professionals seeking fine, artisan wines of place that can diversify any cellar will find so much to admire in Alto Piemonte today.

A Little Historical Background

Given the fame of Barolo and Barbaresco, readers may struggle to believe that in the 1800s, Alto Piemonte was the most famous appellation for Nebbiolo-based wines in Northern Italy. These vineyards once encompassed more than 40,000 hectares. Today, that number is closer to 700 or so. The turn of the century saw the arrival of Phylloxera, followed by a devastating frost in 1905 that wiped out many vineyards. These were rough times for the families that made their living off the land. Over time, younger generations moved to the cities, where factories offered more stable employment. The spread of industrialization gradually gobbled up the countryside.

A few historic wineries remained, but Alto Piemonte was very much a backwater. That was certainly my impression the first time I visited, more than twenty years ago. The landscape and the wines spoke of rusticity, neglect and faded glory. But things started to change in the late 1990s, interestingly, with investments from foreigners. Perhaps because they were able to see the region without any biases and without the burden of history, these visionaries were open to understanding the latent potential of the area. Swiss importer Christoph Künzli arrived in the late 1990s and founded Le Piane. A few years later, Dieter Heuskel, formerly Chairman of the Boston Consulting Group’s Germany practice and his business partner, Alto Adige producer/importer Peter Di Poli, bought an abandoned property in Brusnengo and began nursing it back to life. Their Le Pianelle estate is now one of the most dynamic wineries in Alto Piemonte. Roberto Conterno upped the stakes considerably when he acquired the historic Nervi cellars in 2018.

Today, a whole new generation of young owners and winemakers are returning to their roots, rediscovering the potential of sites that previous generations had been forced to abandon. This is happening because making wine is a much more viable profession than it was in the past.

Cristiano Garella is without question the leading figure of the current generation. Garella makes wines for his own Colombera & Garella estate, consults for many other properties and represents those and many others through his distribution business. His knowledge of the region and its producers is vast and matched only by his boundless energy and enthusiasm.