Piedmontese White Wines

Arneis is the ace up the sleeve of the Roero, a Piedmontese territory morphologically similar to the Langhe but situated along the left bank of the Tanaro. Here, where nebbiolo has not been as lucky, the identifying wine has become a white: Arneis. Straw-coloured and with splendid mineral, citrus, yellow fruit and elegantly vegetal fragrances, arneis is of precious freshness, always accompanied by an enveloping aromaticity. The best crus do not disdain refinement on lees or, in some cases, in wood, with significant enrichment of the complexity of an already intriguing product. It is also good as a passito wine.

According to many, due to its minerality and longevity, timorasso is the most important white grape in Piedmont, actually among the best in Italy. Speaking of the minerality of timorasso, a native grape of the Tortona hills in south-eastern Piedmont, generalisations are not usually made, but reference is made to specific notes of resin, hydrocarbon and flint that, over the years, evolve admirably into extraordinary complexity. In the area since the fourteenth century, it has repeatedly risked extinction, as its cultivation, very sensitive to rotting and other diseases, is extremely difficult, and yields are limited. Thanks to the conservative ageing in steel only on the lees, timorasso gives a wine that is not easy to read in its youth, which also needs years to express itself with all its class. When young, in fact, it can appear bitterish, vegetal and nervous, but with age it gives a full, structured, clear, vertical palate, with persistent acidity and an almond finish of great elegance.

Nascetta is the white grape variety native to the Langhe. Documented since the nineteenth century, it has recently been rediscovered and recovered, since, once the red vocation of the territory was established, it risked being abandoned. Its straw-yellow colour with greenish reflections pre-empts a bouquet of citrus fruits, grapefruit and white peach that evolve into white flowers, acacia honey and thyme. On the palate freshness floods the palate and persists thanks to the sapid backbone which, together with dried fruit, creates a pleasant juicy and silky sensation. It lends itself quite well to a certain evolution and also succeeds as a pleasant, mineral and refreshing spumate.

Recent studies have shown that the favorita and the vermentino are genetically the same vine; therefore, the favorita represents the Piedmontese variant, with its own characteristics linked to the climate, which is not the Mediterranean one of the "twin" and the soil. Widespread in the Langhe and Roero, as well as in the Belbo valley and towards Canelli, the favorita gives dry, fresh and harmonious whites, endowed with above all aromatic personality, but it is also well suited to the production of sparkling white wines, sometimes spumante, which enhance their marked acidity and fine bouquet.