This guest post is a chapter in Personal Legends of Piemonte, a new book about the northwest region of Italy the author describes as “an idyllic place for escape.”
Today we travel all the way back to the thirteenth century. To the southern hills of Monferrato where a red grape named Barbera was born. Considered a dark horse without genetic relation to the glamorous grapes Dolcetto and Nebbiolo. However, Barbera was precocious and packed with personality. If the grapes of Barolo and Barbaresco could be genetically promiscuous, Barbera was a single variety. She was also Piemontese and very stubborn. If forced to go it alone, she would use space to her advantage. Barbera rose rapidly. Her vibrance and adaptable character let her stand out from the crowd. She had promise and was nurtured with perseverance and love. When Barbera arrived on the international stage she made a splash. She inspired interest, then affection, and naturally, financial investment followed; she delivered the sacred goods. Barbera now covers 30% of the land, amounting to no less than fifty-two thousand hectares across Asti, Alba, Aosta, Monferrato, Puglia, and Sardinia. By the time Barbera was given a female gender she was no longer considered a dark horse. Her story unfolds like Cinderella’s; now living happily ever after.
If it took Barbera a long time to conquer the world, it only took me a couple months to find her. Unbeknownst to me she was patiently waiting for an introduction in a nearby town called Bubbio. Loazzolo was taking its time opening a bar, which forced me to be promiscuous as well. Instantly I became loyal to Machi’s Tavola Caldo. Massimiliano and his wife Chiara are the proprietors and so likeable I come back constantly. Massi can make any drink I desire but today I’m in the mood for a glass of wine. When he recommends Barbera, synchronicity comes into play. A wine producer by the name of Daniele walks in while I am drinking a glass from his cantina. Both he and his wine are so charming I decided to follow them home. Daniele takes me to his winery called Erede di Chiappone Armando, in the heart of Nizza Monferrato, where Barbera was born.
As soon as we sit down Daniele lifts his glass to say, “Wine is love.” We’re in his tasting room with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the family vineyards. The sun is setting, the wine is fine, and I’m so relaxed I can’t help but believe him. His grandfather Armando was born in 1908, and with his brother Caesar, he expanded their land. One row at a time, year after year. Then Franco came along, and the baton was passed down to Daniele. If I perceive the Piemontesi as less than sentimental, Daniele stands out. Perhaps it’s the way he goes against the campanilismo and carefully cultivates relationships with various associations in neighboring towns to help spread the love. If cyclists only pass through the town of Loazzolo they stop at Erede di Chiappone Armondo’s winery. Daniele works with his sister and father, who make me wonder why I don’t stop by more often. They’re gracious and inspire traffic, offering tours or wine tastings surrounded by the vineyards a few feet away outside the windows. When you’re completely comfortable, which doesn’t take long, a charcuterie plate arrives, or a spinach torte. You don’t have to cue the sunset; it arrives each day.
Watch The Winers on Feb 20 at 7 PM ET with special guest Bailey Alexander.
Nizza could be considered a kind of a microcosm of all that is good in the world. Regarded the warmest part of Piemonte, its wine is ripest. Daniele’s winery isn’t the only destination. Under the moon over Monferrato there are a dozen restaurants to choose from, most of them memorable. A dinner date in Nizza is distinct; it’s where we spend New Year’s Eve. And if I’m making a special dinner at home, I go to Vittorio and Loredana’s butcher shop in the town center on Via Carlo Alberto. This historic agri-butcher shop offers prize-winning meat from the cattle at Blue Grasso di Carrù fair. From lamb to ox, the specialties include raw salami, ox salami, cacciatorini, tripe, meatballs, rollata farcita and roast-beef. Their meat is processed according to the ancient trade of the butcher, handed down from generation to generation. Outside, along Via Carlo Alberto, the street has energy, people are noisy. When I enter the clients become conspicuously quiet. Until it’s their turn. They are Italian. There will be a discussion. Waiting, I look up at the painted ceilings with awards extending downward, dramatic swaths of fabric draped with honors inscribed in white on red satin and velour. People study the supply behind the glass, the same way Italians inspect labels before they buy the product. This leads to more questions with the proprietor. Then purchases are made. Absorbing the ambiance, the color of the meat is authentically red, and soft; it generally takes seven years of breeding, and the quality is superb. Even the aroma in the air is serious.
Nizza is a destination for music festivals in summer, ice rinks in winter, and the town always has a horse in the grand Palio di Asti. Which is worthy of a mention. More than a horse race, it’s similar to the one in Siena but has more races, more horses and a dramatic and colorful procession of a thousand flag throwers and characters in medieval dress. Held in September, several towns compete for the coveted Palio banner. I saw it once. It’s chaotic and thrilling and lasts about ninety seconds. Jockeys ride bareback and must complete three laps. The race has been run each year since the year 1275 and takes place in the triangular piazza in the center of Asti, the Piazza Alfieri, every third Sunday in September. Campanilismo is on full display, and time stops, existing today as it did in medieval times. Need I mention that the Palio is equally as beautiful and exciting, if not as well known, as the Palio in Siena? Five thousand seats are set up and the party goes all night.
Outside the piazzas and the parties, foggy landscapes and vast undulating hills make up Monferrato. An appellation famous for its calcareous-clayey soils, giving Langue wines both complexity and structure. Almost entirely built on hills, this offers a bewildering array of aspect and sun exposure. Umberto Eco was born nearby, his novels full of subtle, multilingual references to literature and history. Italians love getting lost in the details; they have a word, dietrologia, meaning the facts behind the facts. Eco marvels at how language evolves while, since the time of Dante, the main language remains. It’s a challenge to read Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, written in Middle English. I know because I studied it. But an Italian can read Dante and understand it perfectly. I’ve seen kids as little as nine recite Dante after dinner.
They retain dialects like the landscape of Monferrato retains its distinct beauty. The traditional technique of wine cultivation remains a constant. Dating all the way back to the thirteenth century when Barbera was born. There’s an arc to Barbera’s life. From her status as a dark horse, she’s earned high prestige within the wine community and beyond. Barbera and the treasure beneath her feet offer universal value, selected for inclusion in UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre. Practically all of Piemonte is part of UNESCO. Another reason to agree it’s the secret that needs to be told.
And I agree with Daniele; wine is love.
Interview with Daniele
Where are you from?
San Michele fraction of Nizza Monferrato, in the Province of Asti.
How has your town/village changed since your childhood, what has changed and what has remained the same?
Fortunately, not much as far as the structure of the city - the streets - is concerned, and the same goes for the small hamlet where I live. The farmhouses that I saw as a child as huge forts or moon bases to explore are all still there. With their local "stradinom" (nick names) that only those on the hill know. I'm sorry instead that the people of my childhood, the old people, the Old Men, are no longer there. They were the references of the place for experience or just because they had lived so much and therefore knew everyone and remembered the traditions.
To have been able to enjoy these figures for only a few years is something I regret very much. It's like something is missing.
Can you give me a memory that captures you or your town/village?
The feast of the hamlet of St. Michael in the summer, when "you planted the ball" and you built the wooden round dance floor, topped by the marquee. Seeing the "grown-ups" who worked together and collaborated in the spirit of "partying" to entertain people for a few hours dancing the ballroom dance, our country dance. In those days there was a special atmosphere.
Tell me about the specialty or product of your town/village.
Nizza Docg, Barbera and the traditional cuisine of this part of Monferrato made of seasonal agricultural products grown on our land. We have a rich and fertile land, cultivated with tenacity by women and men who give us cereals - vegetables - fantastic fruits.
Certainly, Nizza Docg, the wine that bears the name of our area, made with Barbera grapes, is the local product that has made our territory better known in the last 20 years.
Does your town/village have a festival, and what does it celebrate?
The Tour of Nizza, an itinerant tour of open cellars in the 18 municipalities of Nizza Docg, held in May, and the Feast of San Michele - Belmonte at the end of July with a food and wine walk through the vineyards at night. A typical summer festival of every village or hamlet.
Where are you now, and how did you arrive at your profession/call?
I find myself doing the work I like and am passionate about in my winery in San Michele Nizza Monferrato. Growing the vines, making wine and making culture by hosting foreign visitors. I studied oenology in Alba at the Institute of Oenology and Viticulture, then I went to university in Turin, studying oenology. Then I worked for 6 years in a local company linked to wine consulting. With the 2000 harvest, I decided that it would be my first home, working for myself alone. I had the family business already started by my great-grandfather and therefore I decided that it would be nice to continue the family tradition of vine and wine.
What is the reality of your life compared to how you thought it would be?
Actually I consider myself a very lucky person, I am doing what I wanted to do when I was a kid. Working in my company making visitors from all over the world come to my house, hosting them, telling them about my land, my profession and my life. Making them feel for a few hours that they’re participating in the production of an awesome product, wine.
When the Coronavirus happened, what did you do to get through it?
After the first days in which everything seemed unreal and impossible, I began to understand what could be done and how to do it with the world locked in quarantine. So I tried to keep in touch with my clients thanks to technology (Facobook, Twitter, Instagram, email etc.) not to lose them and make them feel "protected", less alone. And this served very much as self-therapy for me as well. I had the proof that it was still possible to tell, even if from a distance, a story, my story, and therefore still sell wine. Among a thousand difficulties with many hours used to study and learn new things. But it was worth it. We are not out of the pandemic yet, but we have learned to manage it.
How do you see the future of Piedmont for you and your family?
We will still have at least a year and a half, if not two years, of covid-related difficulties, then we will have a new reality, post covid. We'll have to start thinking differently about our contacts with people, our connections and how to communicate again. If we are ready and able as Piedmont to do this, we will have a great future ahead of us. 2020 would have been the real year of the launch of Piedmont as a tourist area on a global level. For a whole series of factors. We have been sowing together for almost 20 years now and we would have begun to reap the fruits of our labour.
How do you see the future of Italy?
I am always positive and I try to see a positive side in everything. So I hope that this pandemic will turn from a huge problem into an opportunity for Italy to think differently.
We have the most beautiful country in the world where if you use in an effective and organized way agriculture and tourism and all the potential related to it we would live well in all 20 regions and give work to young people and women.
Do you agree that Piedmont is the secret that should be revealed?
I perfectly agree with this question and I discover it every time I host a foreigner and start to tell about our land. Today, thanks to the work done for 20 years by associations such as the Nizza Docg association and the wineries we are beginning to reap the first benefits. Foreigners from northern Europe, Switzerland and Great Britain create reception activities here and attract their compatriots to come and visit us. This whole system WINE VINE HILLS TOURISM CULTURE ENOGASTRONOMY is really working. And in Piedmont there is still so much to discover. And to do. Our region is in a strategic position from a geographical and commercial point of view. We are 90 km from the sea and 70 km from the mountains - we have 2 highways - 3 airports close by. We are the gateway to France and to the south. We have hills - plains - plateaus - rivers - lakes - wooded areas and natural and cultural parks. When I explain why a visitor should come here I always say: “If you like life in the country with breathtaking sunrises and sunsets, a landscape made of hills with vineyards wine and good food and you can choose one day to swim at the sea at Cinque Terre, or at the lake and the day after skiing on a glacier, then you have to come to Piedmont!”.
What do you think about Italy in the EU and what do you think about the EU?
Italy in the EU "weighs" little because deliberately wants to be little incisive. Sent to represent us, incompetent politicians little prepared and unable to understand, still, today, the operation of the EU machine. Despite this, it is a good thing that there is the European Union. That gives us rules, when, we as good Italians "disassemble and reassemble". It gives us a commercial space without duties and free movement of goods and people. And an absence of wars since 50 years. The EU is a great chance for us, but we must be protagonists, presenting proposals and following the dynamics of making politics in a community of states.
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