Since Tore, who is the owner of the farm, studied and certified himself as a Sommelier at level WSET Level 3, we have collected some material here so that you, as guests, can familiarize yourself with the region and its wines.
Barolo is a wine region in Piedmont. These wines are often called the "King of Wines". Below you will find some facts about the Barolo wines.
The villages that are allowed to produce Barolo are the villages: Barolo, Castiglione Falletto, Serralunga d'Alba, La Morra and Monforte d'Alba, and these 5 are the most important and account for most of the production. But there are also the Barolo villages of Cherasco, Diano d'Alba, Grinzane Cavour, Novello, Roddi and Verduno.
View from the village of La Morra towards the village of Barolo which see at the far end of the valley.
Barbaresco is a wine region in Piedmont. These wines are often called the "Queen of Wines". Below you will find some facts about the Barbaresco wines.
View from the medieval tower down on the village of Barbaresco.
Alta Langa is a sparkling white wine of the highest quality from Piedmont, or as you can say Piedmont's white gold! Alta Langa has the highest quality level in Italy, DOCG.
Alta Langa has come on strong in just the last 10 years, becoming increasingly popular as Piedmont's and Italy's answer to Champagne.
Gavi is a white still wine that is considered as one of Italy's best white wines, if not the best. The area in which it is grown is the southeast corner of Piedmont towards the border with Liguria. Gavi is considered by many to be the white jewel in Piedmont's crown.
Gavi received DOC status in 1974 and was elevated to DOCG status in 1998.
In the EU there are common rules for which designation may be used on the label based on how much sugar the wine contains. For most wines, Brut is a dry wine, this also applies to Champagne / Alta Langa.
In recent years, it has become popular not to add any sugar to the dosage and make a so-called "Brut Nature". There are more unofficial names for this type of wine, such as Zero Dosage, which was used in the past and still appears in speech. The fact that the wine is Brut Nature has nothing to do with "natural wine".
Note that the terms can be a bit confusing. For example, it says Extra Dry on many Prosecco but these are sweeter than a Brut.
Name | Sugar content grams/litre | Description |
Brut Nature | 0-3 | Dry |
Extra Brut | 0-6 | Dry |
Brut | 0-12 | Dry |
Extra Dry, Extra Sec, Extra Seco | 12-17 | Dry with little sweetness |
Dry, Sec, Seco | 17-32 | Half dry |
Demi-Sec, Semi-Seco | 32-50 | Half Sweet |
Doux, Sweet, Dulce | 50+ | Sweet |
In order to fully enjoy a wine, it is very important to serve it at the correct temperature. This is to highlight all the flavors and
charasterictics of the wine. Below is a table for recommended serving temperatures, these may appear to be low temperatures, but you have to remember that the wine is quickly heated by the temperature of the room as well.
Wine type | Serving temp in Celsius |
Simpler sparkling wines (Prosecco) | 6-8 degrees |
Sparkling wines of Very good or Excellent quality | 8-10 degrees |
White elegant wines, young rosés | |
Fresh white wines (Sancerre, Riesling) | |
Powerful, full-bodied and barrel-aged white wines (Chardonnay) | 10-12 degrees |
Sweet white wines | |
Sherry, Maderia | |
Young red, light wines | 14-16 degrees |
Elegant red wines | |
Port and red sweet wines | |
Big and intense red wines (Barolo, Amarone) | 16-18 degrees |
Tannic or powerful red wines |
Classico
When you see the terms of Classico on the bottle, it means that the wine is made in the area of origin. Simply from the area where the wine began to be made. There are often, stricter rules in this area also apply, which leads to better wines that are usually a little more expensive as well.
Riserva
When it says Riserva on the bottle, it means that the wine has been aged longer than the traditional wine. Often the storage time is doubled for a Riserva such as e.g. for Barolo, Barbaresco and Amarone.
Superiore
When it says Superiore on the bottle, it means that the wine is made from grapes of extra high quality. Often it also means that the wine has been stored longer and has more body and usually 0.5% higher in alcohol.
Metodo classico / Metodo tradizionale
It is the Italian names for the traditional method of making sparkling wine. The same method used to make Champagne.
Tank method / Charmat method
Is today the most common method of making sparkling wine in Venice (Prosecco). A still base wine is poured into a pressure tank with sugar and yeast for a fairly quick fermentation. When the wine is fully fermented, it is sweetened and bottled. Also called the tank method or charmat method.
Frizzante
When it says Frizzante on the bottle, it means that the wine is slightly sparkling or bubbly, often 2-3 bar pressure. Also often on the bottels of carbonated water that it is frizzante.
Spumante
When it says Spumante on the bottle, it means that the wine is a sparkling wine at 3-6 bar pressure. A champagne usually has 5-6 bar pressure in the bottle. The word spumante is not in itself an appellation of its own. The appellations are Franciacorta, Prosecco and AltaLanga they are all spumante, i.e. sparkling wines.
Tranquillo
Tranquillo is sometimes written on the bottle and then it simply means that it is a white still wine.
Botti
Large Slavonian oak barrels that can be in varying sizes, but often in Piedmont between 2700 - 3200 liters.
Barrique
Barrique today has almost legendary status, they are French oak barrels that were first used in Bordeaux and are 225 litres. A barrique barrel is usually used a maximum of two or three times for aging because it can lose as much as 85 percent of its aromas even after the first aging.
In Burgundy, the corresponding cask holds 228 liters and is called piéce instead.
It makes things a lot easier if you have an understanding of Italy's wine laws and the various classifications.
The super short version of the classifications below is that if you want a quality wine in Italy, look for a blue label with DOC on the neck of the bottle and you will get the second highest classification. If you find a bottle with a gold-colored label around the neck and the name DOCG, it is Italy's highest and best classification. If you want to know more, continue reading below.
EU produced 3 new classifications in 2012 that apply to all EU countries. However, it takes time to fully transition to this and for level 3, Italy has been allowed to divide it into two own categories called DOC and DOCG.
Vino (table wines)
No geographical origin is indicated for these wines.
If the name of the grape is stated on the label, the rule is that at least 85% of the grapes must come from the specified grape variety and vintage.
IGP (Indicazione Geografica Protetta)
Is the second level in the quality classification for wines.
For wines with this designation, at least 85% of the grapes must be grown in the specified geographical area. Some winemakers still use the older equivalent IGT designation that applied before 2012
DOP (Protected Designation of Origin)
This is the third and highest classification of wines, however very few print this on the label. Here, Italy has divided this into two additional levels called DOC and DOCG, it is these two quality levels that all Italian wines today print on the label.
DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata)
DOC = a blue colored DOC label around the neck of the bottle.
This is like the third classification of wines practically used in Italy. Here, 100% of the grapes must be from the specified area. At least 85% of the grapes must be of the specified grape variety and vintage. Here you can say that you have found a really good quality wine, but whether you like the taste is a completely different matter.
DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita)
DOCG = a gold colored DOCG label around the neck of the bottle.
This is like the fourth classification of wines practically used in Italy. The wine is produced according to the rules for DOC and undergoes more and more accurate analyzes and checks. Here, 100% of the grapes must be from the specified area and that it must be bottled precisely in the geographical area. At least 85% of the grapes must be of the specified grape variety and vintage. All DOCG wines must be tasted by an independent committee before bottling. Piedmont is the region in Italy with the most DOCG wines.
Here you can say that you have found a really, really good quality wine, but whether you like the taste is a completely different matter.
MGA (Menzione Geografiche Aggiuntive)
To give another dimension, an even higher level has recently been introduced, which should correspond to the French "Cru" level of wines. However, this is still used to a rather limited produceras in Italy.
