You have decided to take a Wine Tour in Piedmont, or you have decided to take a holiday in Piedmont and want to know its wines.
Wine tours in Piedmont, what can I do to prepare it? First part
You are ready to sail through the wonderful hills of Langhe, Roero and Monferrato and want to get closer to its wines but you don’t know where to start. Well, SlowDays is here for this. We’ll give you some tips on how to taste these places that seem a little “closed” and not so “easy” to approach.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
Here are some tips for planning your trip through hills and wines.
Basic wine dictionary to tackle a wine tour
In Piedmont, winegrowers do not expect you to be connoisseurs and they do not take it for granted that you already know everything. In the cellars they are ready to share their knowledge, but also to share their… It is better that some basic concepts are known
DOCG Denomination of Controlled and Guaranteed Origin
DOC Designation of origin Controlled origin
These are the only wine classifications present in Piedmont. The Piedmont Region has no Igt wines.
The Docg are represented by the excellence of the territory (Barolo, Barbaresco, Barbera d’ Asti, Asti spumante and Moscato d’ Asti, etc…).
DOC wines are not “worse”, they are only less prestigious, mainly because they are obtained from larger and less specialized areas of territory. DOCG wines also often require more ageing.
CASSINA/CASCINA
The farmhouse, country cottage, the agritourism and the rustic farmhouse: In Piedmont it is known as CASCINA. Where the family home is located and where it usually vinifies. The Cascine have a name and frequently the name of Cascina is also the name of the wine produced. Today we have wonderful farmhouses, restored or rebuilt with taste and love and that still retain the ancient charm. A more in-depth Wine Tour will take you to the wine cellars, but it will also introduce you to some farmsteads.
CROTE E CRUTIN
The Crote are the cellars I Crutin are the ancient cellars dug in the tuff, which is provided with most of the houses in some areas of Roero and Monferrato.
SPUMANTE
What makes froth! It is a particular sparkling wine. It can be white, pinkish or uncorked red and served, produces an abundant and light foam. Consequence of carbon dioxide resulting from a double fermentation process. The second fermentation takes place in bottle with the’ classic’ or champenois method, or in autoclave with the charmat method.
BAROLO, BARBARESCO OR NEBBIOLO?
Barolo is the wine obtained from 100% Nebbiolo grapes, as well as Barbaresco. What does that mean?
In eleven municipalities of the Langhe, namelyBarolo, Castiglione Falletto e Serralunga d’Alba and part of the territories of the municipalities of La Morra, Monforte d’Alba, Roddi, Verduno, Cherasco, Diano d’Alba, Novello e Grinzane Cavour in provincia di CuneoBAROLO can be produced from Nebbiolo grapes.
While in the areas of Barbaresco, Neive, Treiso (already a hamlet of Barbaresco) and “San Rocco” first municipality of Barbaresco and then aggregated to the municipality of Alba, BARBARESCO can be produced from Nebbiolo grapes.
Then we have the Nebbiolo wine that comes from the vine variety that has the same name! Complicated? No! Because the land, the method of processing, the tradition give rise to very different wines. All great and everyone to taste! Try to believe! If you still want a small and nice complication, I have to tell you that there are two types of Nebbiolo! That with the vines that grow in the area of Alba and that give rise to the Nebbiolo d’ Alba, and that instead is born in the Langhe around Dogliani and up to Cortemilia, which is called Langhe Nebbiolo!
There are two different types of Nebbiolo, classified according to their origin: Nebbiolo d’ Alba, obtained from the vineyards of the hills near Alba, and Langhe Nebbiolo, obtained from vineyards that can range from Dogliani to Cortemilia (the Langhe nebbiolo, in addition, can be composed of a maximum of 15% of other Piedmontese non-aromatic red berried grapes)
The follow-up next week! Meanwhile if you want to take a look at our Tours you can start to get an idea
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