The Piedmonte Region

If You are trying to get a deeper understanding of Italian wine, Piedmont is one of the most useful wine regions to get to know. It is one of the most famous regions in Italy for wine. When people think of Piedmont, they usually imagine Barolo or Barbaresco, but in truth, they both only account for 3-5% of Piedmont's production, there's quite a bit more to uncover.

Piemonte is the range of Italian wines made in the province of Piedmont in the northwestern corner of Italy. region is located in the foothills of the Alps forming it's border with France and Switzerland. Although the winemaking regions of the Piedmont and Bordeaux are very close in latitude, only the summertime temperature are similar - the Piemonte wine region had a colder, continental winter climate, and significantly lower rainfall due to the rain shadow effect of the Alps.

As in most of Italy, native wines are abundant in the land that the Ancient Greeks called Oenotria and was subsequently cultivated by the Romans. During the Risorgimento of the 19th century, many Piemontese winemakers and landowners played a pivotal role. The famous Italian patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi was a winemaker who in the 1850s introduced the use of Bordeaux mixture.

The best known wines from region include Barolo ( Blog post on 30.09 ) and Barbaresco ( Blog post on 7.10). They are made from the Nebbiolo ( Blog post on 14.10.) grape. These wines are ideal for storage.

Other popular grapes used for red wine production in region is Barbera( Blog post on 21.12.) and Dolcetto ( Blog post on 28.10.). 

The sparkling wine Asti Spumante is made from Moscato ( Blog post on 4.11. ) grape. The majority of the area's winemaking take places in the provinces of Cuneo, Asti and Alessandria.

The Piedmont produces more DOC wines by volume than any other Italian wine region with nearly 84% of all the areas wine production falling under a DOC designation. 

While Turin is the capital of the Piedmont, Alba and Asti are the heart of the region's wine industry.

Let's have a nice glass of some Piemonte wine and have a nice evening :)