The Fantastic Four: Alto Piemonte, Canavese, Valtellina &amp; Valle d’AostaBY ANTONIO GALLONI | FEBRUARY 17, 2026My annual trip through northern Italy once again highlighted
the extraordinary diversity of the stretch of tiny appellations often marked by
heroic viticulture and rugged landscapes. Here at the foothills and lower
slopes of the Alps, readers will find some of the most fascinating, complex
wines in the world. This report focuses on Alto Piemonte and also looks at
Nebbiolo and Nebbiolo-based wines in nearby appellations, including Canavese
and Valtellina. For the first time, I also include wines from a handful of
estates in Valle d’Aosta, which shares a border with Carema.When I was a child, my father told me about an Italian wine
that was once more famous than the Barolos and Barbarescos he loved so much.
That wine was Gattinara. I was immediately intrigued. My parents sold
Travaglini and Antoniolo, among others, in their shop. Those wines were my
first exposures to Alto Piemonte. I wrote my first article on the region in
2005, during my Piedmont Report days. These were decidedly different times.
Wines from historic houses such as Travaglini and Nervi were often rustic and painfully
austere. Dessilani, a big name in those days, made rich, intensely oaky wines
in the international style that was commercially in vogue. That was true at
Ioppa as well. Sella was one of the few estates that really excelled. Quality
and styles were all over the place, and not in a good way.In the years that followed, my reviews of the best wines were
included into broader reports on Piedmont and/or Northern Italy. We began
covering Alto Piemonte at Vinous in 2014. Coverage was bi-annual. Feedback from
these reports was minimal, but I felt the wines deserved attention. In the
meantime, many of today’s top players began to appear. They, in turn, brought a
newfound sense of energy that helped revitalize some of the historic names.Then, about five years ago, readers started to take more notice.
Things changed. The wines were improving. Perhaps during the Covid-19 pandemic,
people were at home and had more time to read. Suddenly, feedback on these
reports was considerable. Readers complained when certain estates weren’t
covered and asked for more. I have never minded criticism. It’s a sign people
care about what you do. But the change was clear. Ever since then, my report on
Alto Piemonte has become an annual feature and has continued to expand. As for
the wines, they have continued to improve by leaps and bounds.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1771348615170-ArPePe_Vinous.jpg">A deep selection of wines from Ar.Pe.Pe., one of the
standard bearers in Valtellina.Wines of the AlpsEach of the four main regions covered in this report
deserves a deep dive. Not wanting to repeat myself, I refer readers to our
extensive article archive, which is full of information on appellations,
permitted grape varieties for each appellation and much more detailed
information on Alto Piemonte, Canavese and Valtellina. As for Valle d’Aosta, I
hope coverage of these wines will grow in the coming years. Valle d’Aosta is
nestled between France, Switzerland and Italy, which makes its a cultural
melting pot in all aspects of life. Nebbiolo (known here as Picotendro)
features in some DOCs, most notably Donnas and Arnad-Montjovet. Beyond that,
Valle d’Aosta’s viticultural landscape features a rich mosaic of indigenous and
international varieties, as readers will see in the accompanying reviews. Whites from Blanc de Morgex et de La Salle,
made from Prié Blanc, are steely and intensely mineral. Reds from Enfer
d'Arvier, where Petit Rouge is the main variety, can be bold and intense. And
that is just scratching the surface. The finest wines are as compelling as
anything in Italy.It’s Not All RosesAs good as the wines from these appellations can be,
challenges remain. The most significant of these is that quality can be
inconsistent, even among the better producers. Some of this can be explained by
the vagaries of climatic conditions, especially in more marginal sites where
quality is variable by definition. But it’s more than that. Growers in these
appellations—many of them younger and/or working with limited financial means—often
struggle with maintaining consistently high quality. Some of the wineries
featured in this report are micro-operations, wineries that are essentially
sub-scale, often because vineyard holdings are tiny. Making small volumes of
wine is extremely challenging. It would be like trying to make one cup of
stock. The proportions just don’t work. As an example, many small growers would
like to age their wines in cask, but they don’t make enough wine to fill those
casks, so they are obligated to use smaller barrels, often alongside steel and
cement to minimize the wood imprint. This can work, but it’s not ideal.&nbsp;In some cases, the entry-level wines are better than the top selections because they have been fussed with the least.&nbsp;Just to
be clear, small producers in other regions around the world face the same
challenges. It’s very difficult to make a single barrel of Grand Cru wine in
Burgundy, for example.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1771348584228-Alto+Piemonte+Cover_Vinous.jpg">Tiny, steep hillside vineyards are typical of the best
sites in Carema.2024 – So Far So Good, But a Long Road AheadThus far, I have been pleasantly surprised by the 2024s I’ve
tasted. The growing season was marked by persistent rain throughout the year. It
was a relatively cool year with no heat spikes. Rainfall totals were about
twice those of normal years, making 2024 one of the rainiest years in history,
in line with 2002 and 2014 among recent vintages. Rain continued during the
critical summer and fall months. After the challenges of 2023, growers were
quicker to intervene in the vineyards, one of the saving graces of 2024. The
importance of learning and adaptation can’t be overstated.Rain persisted throughout harvest, an important factor that
differentiates 2024 from 2014 and 2002. These conditions gave producers tiny
windows to pick. Here, too, there was a silver lining. Smaller estates, which
in these regions means most estates, were better equipped to deal with narrow
harvest windows because they don’t need much time to pick. Larger estates faced
harder choices.The 2024s I have tasted so far are soft wines with forward
fruit. Naturally, there is some dilution, which means both the alcohols and
acids are lower than they might otherwise have been. Even so, I did not
encounter many wines with vegetal notes and/or hard, awkward contours. Today, I
find the balance in the best 2024s better than expected given the challenges of
the growing season, but that applies only to entry-level wines. Most of the
more important selections are still in barrel. Some of the wines may need to be
botted on the earlier side, a reminder that great wines require constant monitoring
throughout their aging, what the French call élevage—the art of raising
wines in the cellar.2023 – Progressing WellBy most accounts, 2023 was marked by heavy rain and also
intense heat, although those episodes were spread out during the year. Heavy
rain in May caused wide outbreaks of Peronospora (downy mildew) that
ultimately decreased production significantly. In retrospect, many producers
did not intervene quickly enough in their vineyards. Intense heat was a theme,
but after 2022, the warmest and driest year on record, 2023 did not seem so extreme.
That’s a reminder of how much perspectives of a growing season are rooted in
the years that immediately precede or follow it, whereas a longer-term view is
more likely to be accurate. Regardless, the 2023s I tasted for this report are
promising,2022 – Soft &amp; ApproachableTwo thousand twenty-two was the warmest and driest year on
record. Not surprisingly, the wines are open-knit and quite approachable. While
the 2022s naturally don’t have the dimension or complexity of the best years,
they also aren’t as penalized as the wines from other regions in Piedmont,
specifically Barolo. It’s a fine vintage for current drinking.Lessona: Here’s Looking at YouBecause of its long track record and size, Gattinara is the
best-known appellation within Alto Piemonte. As recently as the 1960s, these
wines enjoyed stronger customer demand in Italy than Barolo and Barbaresco. I
would place Ghemme just behind Gattinara in terms of its prominence. In recent
years, I have been especially impressed with Lessona. Sandy soils with marine
deposits yield reds that are intensely aromatic, silky and incredibly
distinctive. Lessona is a fascinating appellation. There was a time when most
of the vineyards here were in the hands of noble families. Lessona was
considered an aristocratic wine. Over time, those families gave up their
holdings and Lessona’s reputation began to fade. Today, a new, younger
generation of quality-driven producers is turning out wines that are
increasingly expressive, wines that capture all the pedigree of the region’s
best sites.The State of the MarketAlto Piemonte, Canavese, Valtellina and Valle d’Aosta see
the same pressures as most wine-producing regions do today. Some estates face
very strong headwinds because they are small, bootstrapped operations with
limited resources. Tariffs and an increasingly weak US dollar are challenges
every European estate faces, but the small, family-run wineries featured in
this report simply have less room to maneuver. Prices for most wines remain
extremely low in a global context. While that does mean the wines are very
affordable, it also means many producers are working on slim margins,
especially if they are absorbing some of the impact of tariffs, as many are.
That leaves little room for investment. Additionally, there is a group of
buyers, both professional and consumer, who don’t value the wines because
prices are too low and therefore not suggestive of elevated quality. This is an
unfortunate reality in today’s world and something that is very hard to change,
especially right now, when there is little space to adjust prices upwards. I am
not sure what the solution is, but savvy readers should not be dissuaded by
prices that may appear low relative to wines from other regions. If anything,
these are some of the very finest values in fine, artisan wine. That is
especially true on restaurant wine lists, where markups are increasingly
pushing the upper limits of what most consumers will accept.























































































I tasted all the wines in this article between
November 2025 and January 2026.© 2026, Vinous. No portion of this article may be copied, shared or redistributed without prior consent from Vinous. Doing so is not only a violation of our copyright but also threatens the survival of independent wine criticism.<hr> You Might Also Enjoy<a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/alpine-soul-exploring-alto-piemonte-&amp;-canavese-feb-2025">Alpine Soul: Exploring Alto Piemonte &amp; Canavese</a>, Antonio Galloni, February 2025<a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/alto-piemonte-small-is-beautiful-feb-2024">Alto Piemonte: Small Is Beautiful</a>,&nbsp;Antonio Galloni,
February 2024<a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/nebbiolo-shines-in-alto-piemonte-carema-valtellina-jun-2023">Nebbiolo Shines in Alto Piemonte, Carema &amp; Valtellina</a>,
Antonio Galloni, June 2023<a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/alto-piemonte-valtellina-points-north-mar-2022">Alto Piemonte, Valtellina &amp; Points North</a>, Antonio
Galloni, March 2022<a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/alto-piemonte-valtellina-continued-sep-2020">Alto Piemonte &amp; Valtellina, Continued…</a>, Antonio
Galloni, September 2020<a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/nebbiolo-in-its-many-guises-alto-piemonte-valtellina-apr-2020">Nebbiolo in Its Many Guises: Alto Piemonte &amp; Valtellina</a>,
Antonio Galloni, April 2020<a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/the-last-frontier-the-nebbiolos-of-alto-piemonte-and-valtellina-jun-2018">The Last Frontier: The Nebbiolos of Alto Piemonte and
Valtellina</a>, Antonio Galloni, June 2018<a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/nebbiolo-s-northern-lights-alto-piemonte-valtellina-apr-2016">Nebbiolo’s
Northern Lights: Alto Piemonte &amp; Valtellina</a>, Antonio Galloni, April 13,
2016













<a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/exploring-northern-piedmont-mar-2014">A
Different Shade of Nebbiolo:&nbsp;Exploring Northern Piedmont</a>, Antonio
Galloni, March 4, 2014

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