Piemonte in wine

This large and wonderfully varied region is Italy’s greatest producer of quality wine. It boasts no fewer than 42 DOC and DOCG categories, and, symbolically, there are no ‘lower’ classifed IGT wines. Anything that doesn’t follow the DOC/G disciplinare is completely declassified to Vino Bianco or Vino Rosso.  (It’s important to note that there are some excellent Piemontesi wines which carry this most unassuming identification on their label. Nothing in Italian wine is straightforward.)

This little map shows the most important geographical feature of the region, the Alpine chain. These mountains protect the region from the prevailing western weather patters. To the west is France and to the north is Switzerland. You can see, too, the River Po, which has its source very close to the French border. Piemonte is separated from the sea by the Ligurian Appenines, meaning that away from the mountains, summers are very hot and winters very cold.

The wine map of the region is a complete mess and there is nothing to be gained by showing every appellation on one single map. Broadly speaking, there are five main production zones: Piemonte North & West, Alto Piemonte, Monferrato, Astigiano and Langhe.

Alto Piemonte and Piemonte North & West belong to the ‘heroic viticulture’ tradition. Wine has been made in these regions for centuries, and both, at times, have seen prestige and success.

On the map alongside you can see Monferrato but no Astigiano or Langhe. These three overlap considerably so we’ve kept it simple by leaving out Astigiano and exploring the Langhe separately, below.

This map is copyright MacNay Travel & Wine and uses MapTiler and OpenStreetmap design features.

The Langhe is one of the world’s most famous wine regions. Pliny the Elder (23/24AD – 79 AD) wrote enthusiastically of the wines of Alba.

Although it has always been known for its wines, the soil is very poor for other agriculture, and it was not always the wealthy destination that it is today.  In Roman times it was populated by the fearsome Liguri (think Asterix in Italy); in the middle ages it was a disease-ridden, lawless crossroads traversed by merchants and bandits; by the end of the second world war it was abandoned, ruined and unplanted.

How I would love to have been around at that time to buy a few hectares of Rocche dell’Annunziata for a handful of Lire.

Click through to the page about the Langhe.

This map is copyright MacNay Travel & Wine and uses MapTiler and OpenStreetmap design features.