Solano Cellars
Thursday, November 5th
5-8pm
6 wines for $25 ($15 for Club Members)
Barolo's known as “the wine of kings, the king of wines.” Together with Barbaresco, it takes most of the Nebbiolo spotlight. But they're not the only spots in Piedmont famous for Nebbiolo. In fact, a few clicks northeast sits the region that was regarded as every bit Barolo's equal, if not its superior, for most of history: Alto Piemonte's Bramaterra.
Alto Piemonte sits in the foothills of the Alps north of Barolo and Barbaresco and is one of Italy's most historic, important fine wine regions. Through most of the 19th century, areas like Bramaterra were famous across Western Europe for Nebbiolo marked by aromatic complexity, freshness, minerality, and transparency. But as industrialization and phylloxera devastated the vineyards, and much of the land reverted to forest, Barolo and Barbaresco were beginning their meteoric rise, leaving Alto Piemonte and Bramaterra largely forgotten for decades.
In the context of Piemonte as a whole, Le Pianelle is fairly new. A collaboration between two longtime friends, they founded the in 2004 and assembled a collection of nearly 50 tiny parcels of vineyards dotted across the hills of northern Piemonte. Cristiano Garella, an outstanding young local winemaker, joined in 2009, not long after they planted their first Nebbiolo vineyards. Ever since, Cristiano and Le Pianelle have built a reputation for crafting stunning expressions of Nebbiolo's alpine prowess: fresh acidity, softer tannin, and lower alcohol than their capital B counterparts.
We're thrilled to have Cristiano join us for a special Thursday night tasting of Le Pianelle's expressive wines, including current releases, library bottles, a savory, herb-tinged rosato, and fresh, mineral driven white.