Barbaresco Unbound: Some Vineyard Visits (Part I)
With our recent emphasis on the gourmand’s paradise of Piemonte, we are especially grateful to have Suzanne Hoffman as a contributor. She has the good fortune of residing in Trieso, in the heart of the vineyards of Barbaresco, for a good part of the year, most notably during the culinary peak season of October to January. She has published two books about Piemonte: “Angel of Alta Langa: A Novel of Love & War” is an historical novel set in Piemonte about two young girls’ coming of age amid the horror-and the humanity of Italy’s darkest years of the 20th-century: those of the Fascist era and their darkest years, World War Two.
Highly relevant here is her book “Labor of Love: Wine Family Women of Piemonte”. It is a history of 22 wine families of Piemonte’s Langhe, Roero and Monferrato areas and the contribution women have made to the regions’ success at the dawn of this century.
Suzanne’s article below is about visiting leading Barbaresco wine producers. But even if you don’t take the journey, you will nonetheless have an expert buyer’s guide to these great and remarkable wines, which, compared to their next door neighbors in the larger area of Barolo production, are less abundant. To illustrate, Barolo vineyards comprise 4,942 acres; Barbaresco’s 2100. Eleven villages are in the Barolo region, whereas three plus part of the frazione of Alba make up Barbaresco. The DOCG ageing requirements for Barolo are a minimum of 18 months in wood barrels and 62 months for Riserva bottlings. Barbaresco must be aged for 26 months, nine months of which must be in barrels. For riserva wines it is 50 months. Barolo wines are 12.5 alcohol, Barbaresco 13. The average annual production of wines from Barolo is 13 to 14 million bottles; four to five million for Barbaresco.
Not surprisingly, Suzanne knows the region’s restaurants inside and out, a familiarity she will soon share in our “Real Restaurant Guide” where she will give us her favorite addresses in the Cuneo and Asti provinces.
Robert Brown
Barbaresco Unbound: Part I by Suzanne Hoffman
Over 25 years ago, I arrived in Piemonte for the first time during November, a month that defines the region’s autumnal weather—foggy, bone-chilling cold, rain, snow (at least in those days), and mud. Lots of mud that tractors drag onto roads during the final days of the vendemmia. The weather of November 1999 possessed all those challenging characteristics as I drove my mamma and her schnauzer Otis across the Alps from Valais, Switzerland to Neviglie, between the Barbaresco villages of Neive and Treiso.
In 1999, my knowledge of the Langhe consisted of it being an up-and-coming wine region with great food. That was the extent of it. The internet was in its nascent stage; there were no guidebooks in English solely about Piemonte; and I only had heard about wine journalist Matt Kramer’s recently released book, A Passion for Piemonte. That left me ignorant of the fact that November’s foggy, wet weather brought more than aggravation to clueless explorers like me.
Autumn weather and the optimal soil conditions of Piemonte’s wine region are the necessary ingredients to produce its sought-after treasure—the white truffle. Gastronomes in the know had flocked to Piemonte and the few hotels and agriturismi in Langhe were full. With no room at the inn, owners of a bed and breakfast in Alba offered us their apartment with unreliable electricity and no cell phone service. It was in Neviglie, deep in the Langhe countryside, accessible only by narrow, winding, mud-covered roads. From there, we were three for the road, venturing into the vast and complete unknown with nothing more than a map in hand.
That was then.
And this is now: With just a few keystrokes, you can unearth a treasure trove of information about the Langhe, Roero, and Monferrato wine regions of Piemonte. So I believe it’s fair to say that Piemonte has been discovered. But what does it mean to discover a place as diverse as Piemonte? Does discovering it mean knowing it? In my opinion, no. And therein lies the allure and the beauty of this glorious region.
Despite having 25 harvests in my rearview mirror, each day that I’m on the ground in Piemonte, I make exciting discoveries. I hope that that through my years of visiting, writing about, and living part-time in Langhe, I can open the door wider for gastronomes in love with history, rich culture, and, most of all, the traditions of the region’s food and wine. But unlike the best wine journalists who can describe a wine’s color, perfume, and taste in a myriad of eloquent ways, I write about the stories behind the labels. For me, no matter the scores and accolades a wine receives, the vinous experience is incomplete if I cannot make a human connection. I believe that the sometimes tragic history, rich culture, and generations-old traditions of the Piemontese wine families are what separate the region from those others that are short on history and long on corporate ownership of wine estates.
So now for a taste of the Barbaresco I know and love.
In the beginning...
On November 6, 2000, once more dealing with the challenging autumnal weather and dense fog, I knocked on the thick wooden cantina door at Tenute Cisa Asinari dei Marchesi di Grésy near the village of Barbaresco. My search for the winery’s Barbaresco Martinenga that I had enjoyed at a restaurant in Alba spurred my quest to go to the source. An amiable, tall young man with beet-red hands and dressed in shorts and Wellington boots stepped out from the steaming tank room. Jeffrey Chilcott, Marchesi di Grésy’s Kiwi cellar master, who nearly every serious wine-loving anglophone who passes through Langhe meets at one time or another. greeted me He soon became my wellspring of information and matchmaker with the wine families. The Piemonte education I received thereafter can be traced to that introduction made in the pea-soup thick fog that cloaked the winery that day.
The following year, I met Jeffrey’s boss, Alberto di Grésy, the visionary who with his first vintage in 1973 transformed his family’s centuries-old estate from a typical multi-crop Langhe farm into the Barbaresco powerhouse it is today. Alberto has been a valued friend and mentor who, like Jeffrey, provided me with a wealth of information for my books and enriched my Piemonte experiences. That makes the winery the best place to begin sharing with you some of my Barbaresco favorites.
TENUTE CISA ASINARI MARCHESI DEI GRÉSY
Martinenga (Barbaresco)
Click to visit their website
The Martinenga facility near Barbaresco is the nerve center of Marchesi di Grésy’s four properties in Langhe and Monferrato. All ten of the estate’s wines are produced here. The winery sits below the Martinenga amphitheater where the grapes for the winery’s flagship Barbarescos—Martinenga and the two crus Gaiun and Camp Gros—are grown. Unlike November 2000, which was my third visit before the tsunami of wine tourism swept over Piemonte, Marchesi di Grésy’s popularity, now, as with most wineries today, comes with a price for wine explorers. No more knocking on doors and expecting a long, free tasting experience. An appointment is required, and there is a fee for the various tastings you can choose.
The family’s hospitality extends beyond their winery’s taverna. High above Martinenga, near the top of Monte Aribaldo, sits the family’s luxurious agriturismo Dai Grésy, which is located on the grounds of Villa Giulia, the family’s storied hunting lodge built in 1900. It’s worth the splurge to indulge yourself in the Agri’s warm hospitality while enjoying the grand vistas from the location.
Quirky tip: Yes, Marchesi di Grésy’s Barbarescos are not to be missed, but one of my favorites from their portfolio is Langhe Bianco Sauvignon Blanc. In the 1980s, Alberto’s friends pushed him to produce a white wine they could “enjoy by the sea, with their feet in the water.” He first planted Chardonnay and later Sauvignon Blanc. He describes his Sauvignon Blanc as “very fragrant...salty and typically spiced, closer to herbs than fruit, but reminding me of the leaf of tomato, celery, sage and other vegetables.” Thankfully, visionary vintners like Alberto gave us an alternative to the noble Nebbiolo grape to enjoy with the lighter cucina of the dog days of summer.
ALBINO ROCCA
Barbaresco
Click to visit their website
On October 8, 2012, Angelo Rocca’s three daughters and son-in-law were forced into an early role as third-generation operators of the winery their nonno Albino created. Angelo’s untimely death shocked the wine world and took from us one of Barbaresco’s most revered, charismatic vintners. Having had the good fortune of working alongside Angelo, in the chaotic aftermath of his untimely passing, his daughters, Daniela, Monica, and Paola, and Paola’s husband, Carlo Castelegno, picked up the reins and continued their father’s work as defenders of the terroir in their quest for quality and improvement on tradition.
A visit to Albino Rocca perched above the Ronchi vineyard that overlooks Neive Alto, provides an opportunity to meet one or more of the sisters. When not away visiting their markets, Daniela and Monica are on site handling visits in their beautiful tasting room. Another casualty of Langhe’s explosive wine tourism success has been the need for tasting room employees to handle the high demand for visits, so spending time with members of wine families is not what it was in bygone days. But despite the non-stop flow of visitors from March through November, the Rocca sisters make every attempt to greet their clients personally.
Quirky tip: In addition to the sisters’ stellar wines, lovers of Piemonte’s iconic Nocciola Tonda Gentile Trilobata DOP can also purchase vacuum packs of the hazelnuts from Carlo’s trees in San Rocco Seno d’Elvio, the frazione of Alba that is Barbaresco’s fourth “village.” I like the extra toast he gives them.
To be continued…