Alto Piemonte Nebbiolo: 5 Bottles Beyond Barolo

Lemon-fresh rosato, unoaked Nebbiolo with Vespolina, and Gattinara in Travaglini’s trademark “wonky” bottle: Alto Piemonte gives Nebbiolo a northern accent rather than a Langhe echo. In the foothills of the Italian Alps on Piedmont’s northern border, seven small localities, Boca, Bramaterra, Fara, Gattinara, Ghemme, Lessona and Sizzano, produce Piedmont’s “other” Nebbiolo, still little known beyond its home ground.

Once, Alto Piemonte was destination #1 for Nebbiolo. Most vines were later grubbed up as Barolo and Barbaresco gained favor, leaving a scale so small that even modest Langhe wineries can look Bordeaux-like by comparison. “In Alto Piemonte, we lost a lot of vineyards in the last 50 years,” says Mattia Antoniotti of Antoniotti Odilio in Bramaterra. Warmer recent conditions have brought this formerly marginal climate back into sharper focus, with Conterno moving into the area through Nervi Conterno and Paitin through Bianchi. If you love Nebbiolo but want redder fruit, lighter tannic structure and, at times, a rustic edge, start with these five bottles.

Le Pianelle 2024 Al Posto dei Fiori Rosato

Le Pianelle’s 2024 Al Posto dei Fiori Rosato is the freshness bottle in this set. Choose it when you want Alto Piemonte brightness rather than a sterner Nebbiolo profile: citrus lift, cherry and wild herb aromatics, and a gently saline mineral line.

Northern Piedmont is too often reduced to a comparison with the Langhe. This rosato opens another door, giving you a bright, direct expression that still carries the region’s mineral thread.

Bianchi 2024 Colline Novaresi Nebbiolo

Bianchi’s 2024 Monte Rosso keeps oak out of the frame, leaving the emphasis on super-fresh fruit and the local snap of Vespolina. If you are used to the grander architecture of Barolo and Barbaresco, pour this for the contrast: lift and red-fruited clarity lead.

The producer connection gives the wine extra interest. Paitin brings Barbaresco pedigree north, but the bottle does not chase a Langhe template; it works in a cooler foothill idiom.

Travaglini 2022 Gattinara

Travaglini’s Gattinara announces itself before the cork is pulled, thanks to the producer’s trademark “wonky” bottle. The 2022, from a hot and dry vintage, is the bottle to choose when you want the more structural, powerful side of Alto Piemonte Nebbiolo.

Gattinara gives northern Piedmont frame rather than delicacy alone. Here, Nebbiolo gathers authority in a different Alpine-foothill setting.

Antoniotti Odilio 2021 Bramaterra

Antoniotti Odilio’s 2021 Bramaterra brings volcanic soils and family continuity into the glass. Seven generations have farmed vines here, and the family bought its first vineyards in the 1860s, so this is the bottle for readers who follow appellation history as closely as flavor.

In a region shaped by vineyard loss, Bramaterra keeps an older Nebbiolo identity alive. Open this when locality is the draw: a northern Piedmont voice with its own soil, history and cadence.

Cantina Produttori Nebbiolo di Carema 2021 Riserva

Cantina Produttori Nebbiolo di Carema brings a cooperative perspective to the set. Founded in the 1960s by 10 winemakers and now numbering more than 100 members, it anchors its 2021 Riserva in higher vineyard plots.

Choose the Carema Riserva if you want to see how many growers can sustain one appellation voice. After the family continuity of Bramaterra and the structure of Gattinara, Carema adds another inflection to Nebbiolo’s northern map.

What Nebbiolo Lovers Should Follow Next

Alto Piemonte does not need to displace Barolo or Barbaresco. Follow it for the differences already in view here: small production, redder fruit, lighter tannins and a vineyard landscape that has had to recover attention one bottle at a time.

Keep these producers close. Le Pianelle, Bianchi, Travaglini, Antoniotti Odilio and Cantina Produttori Nebbiolo di Carema each illuminate a separate facet of northern Piedmont, from rosato brightness to cooperative Carema Riserva. For Nebbiolo lovers, this is not a detour. It is another map of Piedmont.