“Grandi Langhe e il Piemonte del Vino”, the story of an excellent wine territory’s diversity

Piedmont wine, one of the most important regions in the wine world and one of the pillars of Italian viticulture with its excellent denominations, Barolo, Barbaresco, Barbera d’Asti, Nizza, Roero, Gavi, and the sparkling wines of Asti and Alta Langa, just to name a few, will tell its story to the world, in the glass, and not only. The event, “Grandi Langhe and the Piedmont of Wine”, organized by the Consorzio del Barolo Barbaresco Alba Langhe Dogliani, led by Ettore Germano, and the Consorzio del Roero, chaired by Massimo Damonte, in collaboration with Piemonte Land of Wine, led by Francesco Monchiero, will be held on January 27th and 28th, at the Officine Grandi Riparazioni (OGR), in Turin. More than 500 wineries from all over the Region will present the new vintages (which the WineNews staff will follow in detail, in terms of news and in-depth analysis on topics like the market, management of territories and tourism, for instance, and also tastings) to the media, industry professionals and more than 200 buyers from all over the world. It is no coincidence that the event is held in Piedmont since it is one of the top three Italian Regions in terms of export value, at 1.18 billion euros in 2023, equal to 15.3% of the total value for Italy. Plus, data for the first 10 months of 2024 are in line with last year, according to ISTAT.
The merit goes also to its top quality production, and diversity that has few equals. Consider just the excellent reds of the Langhe, from Barolo to Barbaresco, and the reds of Nebbiolo, and Monferrato, the kingdom of Barbera, and of Roero, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but also the “Underground Cathedrals” of Canelli, where Asti is created, as well as the tumultuous growth of the Alta Langa bubbles, or the excellent whites of the Gavi area, Arneis, Colli Tortonesi, and more. These are just a few examples of the regional offer that comes from 60 denominations, 19 DOCG and 41 DOC that cover 83% of the regional production. They are almost all linked to historic native vines, such as Arneis, Cortese, Erbaluce, Favorita, Moscato Bianco, Nascetta and Timorasso for the white grape varieties, and Barbera, Brachetto, Dolcetto, Freisa, Grignolino, Malvasia, Nebbiolo, Ruché, Pelaverga and Vespolina, for the red grape varieties.
The variety of Piedmont wine welcomed the 2024 harvest that was all in all positive and slightly up compared to 2023 (+5%, more than 2.25 million hectoliters, of which 2.1 million PDO wine). Exports, as mentioned, are holding their own as the excellent reds, in contrast to the general trend of the typology that is declining, are instead growing. Piedmont, a noble wine land, is looking to the future in the name of the unity of diversity, with a project, still in its infancy, to bring this concept to the label, in the near future, as a sort of “Expanded Geographical Mention”.