July 2024 Wine of the Month Club

PIEDMONT

Nobody knows exactly how many different kinds of wine grapes there are in Italy. Estimates range from several hundred to a few thousand. The Ministry of Forestry and Agriculture’s official tally is 350 different specimens grown “at commercial scale”, which is clearly less than half the actual total, but an absurd # nonetheless. France, for comparison, sources 95% of its national tipple from just 40 grapes; Piemonte (or Piedmont), our destination this month, and just one Italian region of 20, is by itself responsible for 30 distinct varieties. And that’s the magic trick of Italian wine. This finite and labor intensive agricultural product of one small nation performs like an endlessly renewable resource, stock energy fronting as flow, a self-provisioning celebration too crowded to get an accurate headcount. No matter how many guests keep arriving or how long the party lasts, Italy just keeps pulling fresh bottles from the Boot. Here are two more. 

To be fair, Piedmont is an exceptional place even by local standards. The second largest region by size in Italy (after Sicily), it is responsible for some of Italy most revered bottlings, specifically Barolo and Barbaresco, made from the Nebbiolo grape. The word itself, Piemonte, means “at the foot of the mountain”; surrounded on three sides by the Alps, it borders France and Switzerland, encompasses 8 provinces (Turin, Alessandria, Asti, Biella, Cuneo, Novara, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, and Vercelli) and boasts 43 D.O.C. and 16 D.O.C.G. classifications of its wines. Our white comes from the Roero DOCG, where red wine represents 95-98% of total output, but the area is arguably most associated today with white wine made from the ancient and rare Arneis grape, which grows almost nowhere else. The name translates to “little rascal” in the local dialect, a reference to the grape’s trickiness in the vineyard (low-yielding and highly susceptible to mildew) and a possible explanation for its checkered past. Historically, Arneis was planted more to attract birds and bees away from the red grapes than for its potential drinking quality. When vinified it was often blended into Piedmont's reds to augment their aromatics and soften tannic edges. In the days before DOC laws, even Barolo would receive a dollop of Arneis. Its re-birth as prized, single white varietal started in the 1980s, and since then Arneis has distinguished itself as one of the few Piedmont whites as distinctive as its better known red brethren. 

The sign welcoming visitors to Castagnole Monferrato, a tiny alpine town just outside Asti, reads ““If someone in Castagnole Monferrato offers you Ruchè, it’s because he wants to spend time with you.” Perched on a 230 meter ridge, the town is surrounded by an amphitheater of lush hills, with clear views of all the great surrounding peaks: Monviso, Monte Rosa, the Matterhorn, and Mont Blanc. Its name recalls the once abundant chestnut forests (Castagna = chestnut) of the area, which are now replaced by vineyards where, as the sign suggests, Ruchè rules. Though its origins are somewhat mysterious, Ruchè has called Castalgone home since at least the Middle Ages, when it was used for local celebrations and likely during Mass as well. By the 20th century it had fallen into obscurity before 1964 when Castalglone Monfferato’s new parish priest, Don Giacomo Cauda, began producing and bottling his own wine made from the grape. By the 1980s, a full scale revival was underway, and it’s easy to understand why: with its vivid floral aromas, pronounced notes of white and black pepper, juicy berry fruit, and relatively soft tannins and acid, Ruchè doesn’t recall its regional neighbors, or anything else really. It is incredibly versatile with food and can be made in a number of different styles, from light and fresh to aged and complex. 

CIn-cin!

The PlumpJack Wine Buying Team