A Discovery from Piemonte

Giuseppino Anfossi, proprietor, Az. Agr. Ghiomo (Photo ©Tom Hyland)

Recently I attended a wine dinner at Pelago Ristorante in my hometown of Chicago, which was organized by the importer of Ghiomo, a small estate in the Roero district of PIemonte. Present at the dinner was Giuseppino Anfossi, owner of the estate, along with his winemaker, Sergio Molino. 

The Roero district is located across the Tanaro River from the Barbaresco and Barolo zones. Soils are younger and produce red wines with lighter tannins than those famous offerings, meaning that Nebbiolo from the Roero is more approachable upon release. That being the case, Barbera is often planted here as is the white variety Arneis, which has become the most recognized wine of the area. 

There were two examples of the Ghiomo Arneis poured this evening: the "Fussot" and the "Imprimis", both from the excellent 2009 vintage. Both display very nice varietal character with pine and pear aromas, with the latter offering a bit more richness on the palate. Both wines are quite elegant and nicely styled for food and are also very reasonably priced, the former at $18 and the latter at $23 (US retail).

Next was my favorite wine, the 2006 Barbera d'Alba "Lavai", that offered excellent varetal purity and lovely balance. This wine was aged in large barrels, so the wood notes were quite subtle, which was a nice touch for my tastes. Too many examples of Barbera these days are excuses for the winemaker to ratchet up the oak, as if the producer is trying to make a "serious" wine out of Barbera, in other words, make a more heavy duty wine instead of crafting an elegant, tasty wine. This bottling also has lovely freshness and will offer pleasure for another 3-5 years; at $17, this is a real find. Complimenti to enologist Sergio Molino for his minimal approach to the winemaking here at Ghiomo.

Sergio Molino, winemaker, Ghiomo (Photo ©Tom Hyland)

Two bottlings of Nebbiolo followed: the 2006 Nebbiolo d'Alba "Vigna Granda" and the 2006 Nebbiolo d'Alba "Sansteu". Both wines are understated and quite approachable now with the latter offering a bit more punch in the finish. Look for both of these wines to drink well for the next 5-7 years. Again the purpose of these wines are to pair with food - these are not Barolo or Barbaresco meant for a decade of cellaring. Pair these with veal or pork or even braised rabbit.


The final wine of this evening was the beautifully crafted 2007 Barbera d'Alba "Ruit-Hora", sourced from the vines that receive the most sun. There is 5% Nebbiolo and this wine is a more modern style offering, aged in barriques. This is ripe and full, yet the oak is very subtle and again, the Barbera varietal flavors shine. This was a lovely way to finish the dinner especially with the creative pairing of a morel cherry in pastry as offered by Chef Mauro Mafrici.

I decided to write about this producer, as I not only loved the wines as well as the pricing, but also the honesty of this estate. Ghiomo is one of hundreds of producers in Italy that make wine without a lot of headlines - it's doubtful you'll find their name listed in books that profile the best estates of Piemonte, but then again, a lot of those lists revolve around famous names that make excellent wines to be sure, but also ones that have a lot of marketing power.

Ghiomo on the other hand, is all about making wine that captures varietal character and reflects a sense of place. Anfossi and Molino are interested first and foremost in making the best wine they can from their local vineyards. That's the beauty of Italian wine and it's one more reason to keep on with the journey - you never know when you're going to discover the next producer such as Ghiomo!

My thanks to importer Paolo Cerruti for his help and support regarding this dinner.

Values from Piemonte

I'm fortunate that in my travels, I have the opportunity to try so many excellent wines from Italy and other countries. Many of these wines are limited and priced above $50, so believe me, I appreciate the chance to sample these wines.

But I'm always excited to try wines that combine excellence with an honest price. I'm even more excited when these wines are from a region where values are not commonplace. Evidence of that are two new bottlings from Giacosa Fratelli, a small producer in Neive in the province of Cuneo in Piemonte.

Giacosa is known most of all for their bottlings of Barbaresco, as the town of Neive is one of three where this Nebbiolo-based wine can be produced. I tasted two bottlings of theirs from the newly released 2007 vintage: the "Basarin" and the "Basarin Vigna Gianmate", both of which I have rated as excellent (4 out of 5 stars). Each offers impressive depth of fruit, lovely aromatics and gentle, silky tannins (especially the Gianmate bottling). These are among the finest bottlings of Barbaresco from the notable 2007 vintage; both should be at their best in 10-12 years.

Like most producers, Giacosa Fratelli also produces other local wines and these are the ones I'd like to focus on in this post. The 2009 Roero Arneis is a lovely dry white made from grapes grown in the Roero zone, across the Tanaro River from the Barbaresco zone. This is medium-full with typical pine and pear aromas with a nicely balanced finish with very good acidity. This is a tasty, refreshing dry white that is ideal with risotto with vegetables or lighter seafood. 2009 was a brilliant vintage in Piemonte, so there's a bit more depth of fruit than in other years, meaning this wine could hold for another two years (though it's so appealing now, so why wait?). Best of all, it's priced at $17 retail; as Arneis has become quite a sensation in America over the past few years, this is quite a value.

The winery's 2007 Barbera d'Alba from the Bussia vineyard in Monforte d'Alba is another wonderful success. Rich with the spice so typical of the Barbera grape, this has a nice zesty, tangy quality to it that makes it perfect for grilled chicken, ribs or pork or pastas such as tajarin with beef and tomatoes. Barbera has very light tannins for a red wine, so that makes this wine quite drinkable now, even though 2007 was a year that resulted in deeply concentrated red wines in this area. Stylistically, I love this bottling as the winemaker decided to age this wine in large oak casks instead of barriques, thus keeping the focus on the tantalizing black cherry and blackberry fruit. It's a real pleasure to taste this wine, especially when you consider that you are getting a Barbera from a single vineyard from an excellent vintage and you only have to shell out $17 for the wine - a remarkable value!

For me, there is no other region in Italy that produces as many outstanding wines as does Piemonte, but let's face it, you usually have to pay for that quality. So how nice that these two wines, from a very consistent, quality driven producer such as Giacosa Fratelli are so good and so affordable! Here's hoping that more producers from this area follow suit!


The wines of Giacosa Fratelli are imported by Wines from Bedford, Larchmont, NY