Exciting new wave of young vignerons emerge in Canavese

A new wave of young winemakers in the Canavese wine region in Piedmont on the border with the Aosta Valley are bringing great energy to small region and making some fantastic wines of note. Filippo Bartolotta investigates…

Canavese is a wine-growing area in Piedmont on the border with the Aosta Valley. It is the home of the zesty and mineral white variety, Erbaluce di Caluso DOCG, the super-refined Nebbiolo based Carema DOC and Canavese DOC.

It is a mountain wine appellation with vineyards climbing to the extreme inclinations possible thanks to the ingenious dry-wall terraces and scenic Pergola trellises.

Why am I reporting on Canavese? Because I fell in love with the truly heroic gestures of the vigneron who must do anything and everything by hand, facing the toughest natural adversities, which includes the detachment of massive stones from the mountain while pruning.

I fell in love with Canavese because the wines are a pure and transparent representation of where they come from showing exactly their provenance with a mineral, hyper-juicy and intense character and yet very fragile and delicate.

Another reason to get to know more about this area is the chance to enjoy that wonderful sense of discovery and reward of a hidden secret, kept away from the spotlights and therefore also with really high value for money.

Naturally, Canavese’s winemakers are seeking the attention that they deserve fully. People have been making wine here for centuries, but the success of the textile industry in Biella and that one of the world pioneer typewriter company Olivetti – one of the economic miracles of the 1950’s – resulted in a contraction of the vineyards. For example, at the start of the 20th century Carema had around 120ha of vineyards, but today that area is down to 22 hectares. (The total 478 ha of the area is split between Caluso DOCG (263ha), Canavese (165ha) and Carema (22ha)).

But although this seems, and is a small size, a counter-trend has been growing over the few years. If we looked back only ten years ago, Carema DOC was only 13 hectares, so what is happening to prompt this growth?

It is the rise of a new wave of winemakers: 22 young vigneron of Canavese.

Rejuvenation

We are talking about a group of highly motivated producers under the age of 40 who have taken over some beautiful old vines, or simply started planting new ones on the cliffs of the mountains. The majority of them bottled for the first time only two or three years ago but thanks to the solid comradeship of this group the results in the glass are really exciting.

The area looks like a butterfly with one wing on the mountain on the west side of the Dora Baltea river, home of Carema DOC and the other wing on the east side, home of Erbaluce di Caluso Docg while Canavese DOC can be on both sides.

The ‘butterfly’ is actually a natural amphitheatre created between 900,000 -10,000 years ago by the debris brought by the melting of a glacier. The Dora Baltea amphitheatre is the only one in Europe that originated by travelling through all the tectonic plates of the Alps, and as a result, the soil consists mainly of sand, stones and pebbles extremely rich in minerals.

We are one and a half hour drive north of Barolo. The grape verity is the same Nebbiolo which here is called Picotendro, a Lampia sub-variety, according to a brilliant masterclass held in Ivrea recently by Armando Castagno.

Nebbiolo must be at least 85% and when the wines are not vinified pure then the remaining 15% can be Pugnet and Ner d’Ala.

The minimum age is 24 months for the Annata and 36 months for the Riserva. Both wines must spend a minimum 12 months in oak.

So are these complementary varieties what make Carema wines so different from the most famous Barolo and Barbaresco? Not really. These varieties are very neutral ones and of course they could add complexity to the blend, but the main factors I believe are the combination of the sandy soil and the mountain conditions: the forts bringing a sort of sweet touch on the palate while the latter adding verticality and juiciness to the wines.

The vineyards climb up at an incredible 72% inclination under very steep mountains: the Bec Renon and Bec di Nona going over 2000m above sea level, are only 5km away from the Dora Baltea and this generates a drastic temperature drop during the night.

While exploring the region with local sommelier and passionate tour guide Lorenzo Labriot, we struggled a couple of time to get the minivan up the hills. So while Armando and I were excited but a little frightened by the mesmerizing roads escalating the Alps, Lorenzo seems perfectly at ease, despite the wheels of the minivan squeaking and smoking struggling to go up.

Once we stop right close to one of the highest vineyards of Carema at 600m above sea level, Lorenzo grabbed a brand new map of the area he contributed to design and showed us the ancient Pergola system built with only with the local oak and chestnut wood.

“The name of this structure is ‘topia’,” explained Gianmarco Viano one of the founders of the Giovani Viticolotri del Canavese. “The wooden architecture is built on stone pillars or ‘pilun’, over the terraces and degrading downhill for a few metres. Given that there is not much available land, the topia not only protects the berries from the summer sun or the hail storms but it also increases the amount of (virtual) hectares.”

Basically it’s like having a ground floor and a first floor of vines on the trellis.

The proximity to the mountains is everything to this region: homes, cellars, castles and restaurants are built right next to the mountains. And during the recent scalding hot summers, enjoying a wine tasting in their ‘balmetti’ (17th century cellars) is like heaven as the ‘ore‘ (the air currents coming from the mountains) make a constant temperature of around 11°C.

But like everything there’s also the other side of the coin, Vittorio Garda, the President of the young producers’ association explains.

“We owe everything to these mountains but they also represents our limits,” he said, pointing out the Bec Renin on the other side of the Bec di Nona, where we sip wines. I say it’s beautiful and he says “Yes – but that is also how far the horizon, the mental horizon, here can be – very short! But this is what we have to do, widen our horizons.”

I am  convinced that this is already happening. For example Giulia Aloi, (pictured) is one of the most motivated producers I’ve met, despite being only 26 years old, while the youngest, Marco Trovero, is only 24. Bearing in mind the small size of these wineries – some of these vineyards are only 0.25ha – they nevertheless seem to be having a big impact.

During the most recent promotional event, Re-Wine 2022, the tasting events were always full and some of the historical wineries, such as Produttori di Carema, are enjoying the bright new energy this energetic group is bringing to the region.

This year, for example saw the birth of a potential new and ambitious project regarding the definition of 43 crus which Castagno has mapped thoroughly (with the help of Lorenzo Labriot, Gianmarco Viano, Vittorio Garda and Achille Milanesio). And although this isn’t an official step yet, it is the embryo of a possible Carema MGA.

What to expect

So what are the expectations when cracking open a bottle of wine from this northern western most side of Piemonte, where it borders Valle d’Aosta?

The Erbaluce di Caluso Docg shows some really refreshing citrus fruit and mineral driven wines with a creamy acidity -like a great Riesling Kabinet- and great longevity.

The reds are showing always a very transparent light red ruby color with the classic garnet hues (typical of any great  Nebbiolo). Plenty of red fruit with pomegranate acidity, some mountain verticality but with a sweet and caressing touch and an extraordinary aging potential. Throughout the years I have had the chance to open some seriously smashing bottles of Carema from the 1950’s and 1960’s in a state of grace. I can still remember a bottle of Ferrando Etichetta 1962, a Produttori di Carema 1985 and during this trip, I was able to taste a bottle of Achille Milanesio Carema 1989 – both wonderful examples of the pedigree of this region, that I suggest any wine lover should keep their eyes peeled for.