The Field Guide
Northern Italy
The third of the Italian map that Barolo and Prosecco stand in front of. Eleven appellations strung between the Alps and the Po, each holding a grape that never left home.
Five regions · eleven appellations
Northern Italy
The history
Piedmont's houses built their reputation on Nebbiolo and their living on everything else; the northeast spent centuries inside Austria and Venice, which is why its grapes and its names sound like neither.
The land
Alpine foothills falling to the Po plain — cold nights, long autumns, and in the far northeast a limestone shelf above the Adriatic that gives wine a salt edge.
Wine styles
Perfumed, sharply drawn reds from Monferrato and the Langhe; textured whites from Timorasso and Ribolla Gialla; dark alpine Lagrein and pale mountain Schiava.
The underdogs to drink
Start with the grapes worth the detour. More guides land as we publish them.
Whatever you drink now, there’s an underdog you’d like more.
One overlooked wine at a time: what it tastes like, the famous one it can replace, and the catch. It’s the list our wine club will be built from.
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