Terre Alfieri: Arneis and Nebbiolo between Astigiano and Roero

The delimitation includes seven local municipalities: Antignano, Celle Enomondo, Cisterna d’Asti, Revigliasco d’Asti, San Damiano d’Asti, San Martino Alfieri and Tigliole. To these are added parts of Castellinaldo, Govone, Magliano Alfieri and Priocca, in the province of Cuneo. The distinction between whole communal territories and delimited portions is important to understand the geography of the denomination.

The suitable vineyards are located on the hills, in clay soils, limestone and sandy, variedly combined. The campaign changes perspective to each dorsal: a country observed from afar can become the next stage. In the Monferrato Astigiano, the Terre Alfieri thus introduces an area of encounter with the hills of Roero.

The name was born as DOC in 2009 and obtained the DOCG in 2020. Its recent story makes an area recognizable through two varieties rooted in Piedmontese viticulture. The name Terre Alfieri gives unity to the path, keeping distinct white and red expression, each with rules and own times.

This dual identity offers a concrete way to read the landscape. In the same visit you can ask where Arneis and Nebbiolo are cultivated, what exhibitions have been chosen and how the producer interprets the two grapes. The story is not exhausted in the tasting: it returns to the observed slopes and decisions that make them vineyards.

Terre Alfieri Arneis requires at least 85% of Arneis; the Terre Alfieri Nebbiolo at least 85% of Nebbiolo. The remaining part can come from other non-aromatic vines of the corresponding color, admitted by the disciplinary. The two types share the area, but retain a distinct ampelographic base.

For the Arneis there is also a higher version; for Nebbiolo there are Superior and Reserve. A tasting can then pass from the fruity component and from the body of white to tannins and to the evolution of red. The combinations follow these differences: delicate dishes and fresh cheeses for the Arneis, meats and mature cheeses for Nebbiolo.

The yields distinguish the two productions: for Arneis the consortium card indicates a maximum of 100 quintals per hectare, for Nebbiolo 85. It is a useful detail to know the work upstream of the cellar, along with the position of the vineyards. Asking how the company manages the production load and the maturation of the two varieties adds to the tasting an agricultural reading of the territory, consistent with the dual identity of the denomination.

San Martino Alfieri and Cisterna allow to bind the wine in the presence of the villages on the hills. Dedicate a stop at the center of each country, then look at its profile from the countryside. The alternation between alleys and landscape gives a measure of distances and shows how inhabited, historical buildings and crops belong to the same landscape.

Complete the day in San Damiano or Antignano, choosing a cellar where to taste both types. To continue the confrontation on Nebbiolo, the nearby horizon ofAlbugnano DOC proposes another area and another identity. Returning to the pages of the vines after the visit helps to put in order the differences listened and recognized during the tasting.