Arneis: a white voice in the Alfieri Lands

The cultivation of the Arneis affects areas of the provinces of Cuneo and Asti. In Terre Alfieri the vine gives name to one of the types of the name, while the other follows the Nebbiolo. This relationship allows you to explore the same territorial context through two different grapes.

The pages of the Cisterna d'Asti, San Martino Alfieri and San Damiano d'Asti are points from which to build the journey. Before entering the winery, a stop in the village and a stretch among the hills give to the names met on the bottles a concrete location.

Arneis is a white berry grape. The clusters are relatively small and compact, with small ellipsoidal-shaped grapes and yellow-green colour. The vine has vigor and a medium-precocious maturation: two aspects that are part of the agricultural tale of the variety.

These traits are better understood by listening to those who work rows. The visit can follow the relationship between growth of the plant, management of vegetation and harvest. The passage from the description of grapes to the experience of the vineyard makes the vine recognizable through gestures and decisions, beyond technical lexicon.

Arneis identifies the vine; Terre Alfieri Arneis identifies a wine of the name Terre Alfieri DOCG. Reading these two information together allows you to know both grape and its origin. The territory gives a direction to the journey and the producer adds the story of the single interpretation.

Continue with the Nebbiolo, to explore the other voice of the Alfieri Lands, or with the Cortese, which leads towards Gavi and the High Monferrato. Connecting these whites to different places expands the map of Piedmontese wine and helps you choose the next hill to know.

In Cisterna d'Asti, near the border with the province of Cuneo, Arneis enters a countryside where forests and vineyards live. The location of the village allows you to observe the landscape before crossing it. The castle and the parish church are references to the profile of the village; the cistern kept in the castle also preserves the link with the name of the town. A walk in the center gives a thick stop, alongside the knowledge of wine the history of buildings and communities living in these hills.

In the castle of Cisterna d'Asti, the Museum Arts and Crafts of a Time offers a path through objects and activities of local life. Agricultural work finds place inside a larger memory, made of crafts and tools. This perspective completes the visit to the vineyards: grape belongs to a territory that has built in time knowledge, houses and ways of working. From the country, the journey can open to San Damiano d'Asti, keeping the thread of the Alfieri Lands and leaving room for other stories collected in the municipal pages.

A San Martino Alfieri, the ridge between Tanaro and Borbore allows a different reading. The castle and the ancient nucleus of the village occupy two parts of the center; squares and short alleys connect the spaces of the community. The neoclassical parish of San Carlo and Santa Maria adds an artistic stage, while the cultivations are visible outside the town. The Terre Alfieri Arneis the name of the designation is given to this context. Knowing the country, observing the countryside and listening to the producer allows us to combine origin and interpretation: white becomes a way to find in the glass the path completed between the hills.