Wine & Spirits - December 2017 - 39

ily's history of upending the establishment. Mario's
daughter Rosanna began managing the business at a
time when few women were running wineries. With
the encouragement of her friend Luigi Veronelli, one
of Italy's most influential wine and food critics, Antoniolo became one of the region's earliest producers of
single-cru wines. She was also one of the first in the
region to release a nebbiolo rosé, in 1984, paving the
way for all those pallets of Ioppa rosé now making
their way to Scandinavia.
The 78-year-old Rosanna has since handed over
winemaking responsibilities to her son, Alberto, and
management of the business to her daughter, Lorella
Zoppis Antoniolo, who drove me up to the Gattinara
tower for a look at some of the family's vineyards.
Antoniolo's wind-blown blond hair and tanned features project the look of someone who's spent plenty
of hours among the vines. She tells me that when her
grandfather began buying land in the 1940s, vines
covered more than 1,700 acres of the Gattinara hillsides; just 260 acres remain today.
Antoniolo owns 34 acres on some of Gattinara's highest hills, including the San Francesco and
Le Castelle vineyards, directly behind the tower,
and Osso San Grato, on a steep, scrabbly slope facing south toward the town below. They bottle the
three crus separately, each of the 2012s showing different nuances of Gattinara's volcanic terroir. Osso

San Grato is the most austere, aged for three years
in large casks and built for long-term cellaring.
San Francesco, aged about half as long in a mix of
small and medium-sized barrels, is floral and fruity,
fleshy enough to enjoy now but with the structure
to improve over the next few years. Le Castelle is the
most approachable of the crus, with velvety tannins
rounded by two years in used barriques.
ANTONIOLO IS AN INTENT LISTENER and projects a calm authority that probably serves her well
in her role as president of the local consorzio. Like
Garella, she's an advocate for the region as a whole.
Both Garella and Antoniolo see a silver lining in
Alto Piemonte's dark years. Since the wines weren't
popular in global markets during the 1980s and '90s,
the producers weren't affected by stylistic changes
that moved the wines of some Italian regions to a
rounder, sweeter, more heavily oaked style. "We
have always looked for wines that are typical of
this region," Antoniolo says, and that means wines
that are fresh and structured, maybe even a bit lean
and sharp for some palates, but never domineering
at the dinner table. It's a style that's coming back
into fashion as a new generation looks for balanced,
affordable wines offering authentic regional expression, and that's good news for an old region seeking
a fresh start. n

Alto Piemonte's Place at the Table
Katie Morton fell hard for nebbiolo when she joined the wine team at NYC's
Maialino, where the list includes deep verticals of some of Barolo and Barbaresco's most prestigious names. Maialino's clientele skews toward a younger demographic with less ready cash and more adventurous tastes, and Morton found she
had to look elsewhere for affordable bottles of nebbiolo. Now, as the wine director at Marta, Morton's list includes selections from Antoniolo and Colombera
& Garella, as well as a mini-vertical of old Travaglini Gattinaras and even a single-variety vespolina. "They're light, aromatic wines with a little grip, delicious
with the pizza and grilled meats on our menu," she says. "And with a price tag of
around sixty-five dollars, people are willing to give them a try."
Susannah Smith, a buyer at NYC's Flatiron Wines & Spirits, appreciates the highacid, ethereal quality of Alto Piemonte wines, describing them in musical terms:
"Sometimes I'll listen to a wall-of-sound band, but other times I like Fugazi,
because you can hear each musician separately and pick out all of the notes. Alto
Piemonte wines have that sense of interior space; they aren't so jam-packed."
Smith pitches them to customers looking for wines that are delicious, expressive of their place and affordable. "I don't think of them as Barolo lite," she says.
"These wines are special on their own."

WINE & SPIRITS

DECEMBER 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - December 2017