We know Piedmont for its stars, Barolo and Barbaresco, two names that are enough to charm wine lovers anywhere in the world. But just a few kilometres away lies another region, hillier, more intimate and every bit as fascinating: Monferrato. I went there to meet grape varieties you won't find anywhere else, and I came back with surprising discoveries and personal favourites that I'm sharing in this article.
Monferrato is, first of all, a geography:
a historic region of Piedmont straddling the provinces of Asti and Alessandria, made of gentle hills that stretch from the right bank of the Po to the foothills of the Ligurian Apennines. A land shaped by centuries of winegrowing, yet one that remains, to this day, largely in the shadow of its more famous neighbours.
In practice, there are traditionally three Monferratos. Basso Monferrato, or the Casalese, lies to the north in the province of Alessandria: its hills are among the gentlest in the region, rarely rising above 400 metres, and are centred on Casale Monferrato, one of the territory’s historic capitals. Monferrato Astigiano, in the west, covers most of the province of Asti. It is the densest winegrowing heartland, home to Nizza Monferrato and Castagnole Monferrato, among other villages. Finally, Alto Monferrato, in the south of the province of Alessandria, is where the landscape becomes more pronounced as you approach neighbouring Liguria, whose dialect it even shares. A useful note: this three-way division is no ancient inheritance. Until the 18th century, when Monferrato still existed as a state in its own right, documents of the time knew only one single “Monferrato”, with no subdivisions.
A Terroir Sculpted by the Sea
To understand Monferrato, you first have to look beneath your feet. Its soils are ancient, born in the Miocene, five to twenty million years ago, and they tell a story you wouldn’t guess from looking at these hills today: the story of a sea. The whole territory was once covered by water, and it is from this vanished seabed that its white marls come, a rock made of limestone and clay that has marked out the region’s best plots for centuries. Near Asti, the soils become more clay-and-sand and prove rich in marine fossils, a reminder of an ancient coastline. This maritime past has even left traces underground: in some villages, locals dug into the marl to build underground cellars called *infernot*, so distinctive that they helped earn the Monferrato landscape UNESCO recognition.
On this terroir, the climate does the rest: continental, with cold winters, hot dry summers and wide swings between day and night, exactly what is needed to ripen the grapes slowly while preserving their aromas.
Twenty-Six Centuries of Vines
The winegrowing history of Monferrato is almost as old as that of Italian viticulture itself. The first vines were planted here as early as the 6th century BC by the Celto-Ligurian peoples, before the Romans spread vine growing along their roads.
But it was in the Middle Ages that Monferrato truly forged its winegrowing identity. In the 8th century, the canons of Casale Cathedral cleared the hills and planted *barbesino*, the ancestor of what we now call Grignolino. Their role in Monferrato is every bit as important as that of the monks of Cluny in Burgundy: they laid the foundations of an organised vineyard. In the 13th century, the agronomist Pier de’ Crescenzi, author of the first great treatise on agriculture, was already praising the growing methods of Monferrato’s farmers, a sign that the region had already built a real reputation.
The centuries that followed were no smooth ride. Phylloxera, at the end of the 19th century, devastated the vineyards as it did everywhere else in Europe. Reconstruction after the First World War centred on varieties able to withstand hardship (Barbera, Dolcetto, Freisa), sometimes at the price of a drive for volume that lowered quality. It would take until the 1980s for a new generation of winegrowers to return to the land, this time with the ambition of recovering elegance rather than quantity. It is this generation, and those that followed, who made Monferrato what it is today.
The Grape Varieties That Define Monferrato
It is on this marly soil and this long history that the grape varieties that struck me most during my stay flourish.
Barbera —the undisputed queen.
It is the variety that covers the most hills in the region, the one that has long shaped its economy. It has two faces: easy and generous in its simplest version, an everyday wine, fruity and easy-drinking; but capable, in patient hands, of becoming an ample, structured wine for ageing, especially when it goes through oak.
It is precisely this second face that Nizza embodies, the most demanding expression of Barbera. For a long time simply a sub-zone of Barbera d’Asti, reserved for the best terroirs around the town of Nizza Monferrato, it eventually broke free: recognised as an appellation in its own right, Nizza DOCG has recently acquired its own consortium, proof of the ambition driving it. This is Barbera at its peak: dense, structured and built for ageing.
Barbera d’Asti DOCG 2024 «Cit Lia Vi’» – Carussin
An estate founded in 1927 by the Ferro family (today run by Bruna Ferro), farmed biodynamically since 1984 and certified organic. The Lia Vì vineyard was planted in 1981. It is fully grassed over and hand-harvested into small crates. Here, the Barbera is aged in concrete tanks. The name is the Piedmontese word for the migratory bird that nests in the vines, hence the nest on the label.
Nizza DOCG, “Cremosina” 2023 et “Generala” 2021 – Bersano
Two Nizza DOCG wines from the house. Cremosina is its historic cru, recognised in 2014 by the Nizza zoning: around 11 hectares on the left bank of the Belbo, with limestone, clay and sandy soils, slopes of 15 to 25% and a south/south-west exposure. Cremosina 2023 is the younger expression. Generala Riserva 2021 is the top of the range, with a long ageing period.
Barbera d’Asti Superiore DOCG 2022 «Sant’Emiliano» – Marchesi Incisa della Roccheta (édition Royal Opera House)
A 2017 Barbera d’Asti Superiore, released as a limited edition to support the theatre’s fundraising (the #ABottleForTheArts initiative, launched in 2021). 100% Barbera from the Sant’Emiliano cru in Rocchetta Tanaro: a south-facing hill around a chapel, with old vines, low yields and hand harvesting. Fermented in stainless steel, then aged for up to 18 months in French barriques (30% new).
Barbera d’Asti Superiore DOCG 2023 «Sichei» – Franco Roero
A family estate since 1894, now in its fourth generation (Franco, his wife Lucia and their son Gianluca). Around 16 hectares on the hills of Santo Stefano, on clay soils rich in limestone. A Barbera d’Asti Superiore aged for 18 months in large casks.
Barbera d’Asti Superiore DOCG 2023 «Genio» – Gianni Doglia
A cuvée dedicated to the founding grandfather, Eugenio Rivella, nicknamed “Genio”. It comes from a selection of old vines (60 years old on average) on clay-limestone soils, Guyot-trained and hand-harvested. After destemming, crushing and fermentation, the wine spends 18 to 20 months in small French oak barrels. 2023 was a warm, concentrated vintage.
Grignolino - the real surprise of this trip.
Pale, light, almost shy in appearance, it actually hides a far more present tannic structure than you would imagine, and an ability to age that astonished me. Its very name tells of this contradiction: it is said to come from the Asti dialect word grignòle, meaning pips, and Grignolino is indeed full of them, so much so that the grapes must be pressed with extreme gentleness so as not to release their bitterness into the wine. A demanding variety, then, and perhaps this explains its up-and-down path: at the beginning of the 20th century, Grignolino ranked among Piedmont’s most prestigious wines, almost on a par with Barolo. But between the difficulty of making it and the rise of varieties that were easier to grow and sell, it gradually lost ground, until it became one of those treasures you have to know where to look for.
A handful of winegrowers decided to make this potential a common cause. In 2016, around ten Monferrato producers came together within the Associazione Monferace, with a simple goal: to give Grignolino back the place it once held among the great wines for ageing, before it was reduced, in the public mind, to a light wine to be drunk young. The name they chose is no marketing accident: “Monferace” is the old name of Monferrato, attested as early as 1550, which meant “generous hills”. To carry this name on the label, a wine must meet strict specifications: 100% Grignolino, aged for at least forty months of which twenty-four in oak, capped yields, and approval by a blind tasting panel, vintage after vintage. Only a handful of estates take part, for a confidential production.
The Fallen King: How Grignolino Lost Its Crown
It is hard to imagine today, so little known is Grignolino outside Piedmont, but this wine once outshone Barolo itself. At the beginning of the 20th century, under the Kingdom of Savoy, only two wines embodied Piedmontese excellence: Barolo and Grignolino, considered the wine of the kings of Italy. It even cost more than Barolo, so precious was it. This is no coincidence of kinship: Grignolino is genetically related to Nebbiolo, almost its grandson, as a producer from the Monferace association explained to me during my visit.
So how can it be that one became a world star and the other a near-unknown? The answer lies less in the grape than in the region’s economic history. After the Second World War, a certain Mr Ferrero set up his factory in Alba, in the heart of Barolo and Barbaresco country. A whole economy grew up around it: farmers stayed on the land, found work in the company’s orbit, and the entire area gained in importance, bringing with it the reputation and quality of Nebbiolo wines. Nothing of the kind happened in Monferrato, which remained a rural land: the younger generations left to work in Milan or Turin, leaving only the elders behind to tend the vines.
On top of this came a handicap specific to the grape: Grignolino has a reputation for being difficult and unreliable to grow, far from the generosity and consistency of Barbera. Many winegrowers then chose to pull up their Grignolino vines and plant Barbera, simpler and more profitable. In a few decades, the wine of kings became a product of uncertain quality, sold at a discount.
One last curiosity: Grignolino is so tied to its terroir that it is found almost nowhere else in the world, with one exception as unexpected as it is tiny. At the start of the last century, Piedmontese emigrants took a few vines to Napa Valley, California, where a handful still survive today. An improbable nod at the other end of the world, for a variety its own country had almost forgotten.
Grignolino d’Asti DOC 2025 – Franco Roero
Grignolino d’Asti DOC, 100% Grignolino, from the family vineyards at Montegrosso d’Asti (Zucchetto locality), on clay soils rich in limestone. The family has grown vines here since 1894: it was on the Zucchetto hill that the great-grandfather bought his first plots. Fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks, then aged for three months in steel, with no oak.
Grignolino DOC, “Arlandino” 2025 & “Monferace” 2020 — Tenuta Santa Caterina
Two faces of the same grape from the same estate in Grazzano Badoglio. Arlandino is made in stainless steel with no oak: a pale, translucent wine designed for youth and purity of fruit. The 2020 Monferace Riserva, by contrast, carries the label of the association of the same name: 40 months of ageing, at least 24 of them in oak, from a warm, concentrated vintage. It embodies the collective project to recover the grape’s historic ageing potential.
Grignolino d’Asti DOC 2025 “Il Grignolino” — Gianni Doglia
Grignolino grown on clay-limestone soils, Guyot-trained, unirrigated and with low yields. After destemming and crushing, the must macerates on the skins for five days, then the wine is racked and aged for six months in stainless steel, with no oak. 2025 brought a wet spring, cool nights and reduced yields, giving small, concentrated berries.
Ruchè - the quiet treasure of Castagnole
Native to the village of Castagnole Monferrato alone and its surroundings, it nearly disappeared before being saved by a handful of stubborn winegrowers. It now has its own DOCG [the smallest recognition of this rank in Piedmont: TO CONFIRM], which says a lot about how little of it there is. On the palate it surprises: an intensely floral and spicy nose, almost aromatic, carried by a palate that stays tense and fresh.
Ruchè: A Variety Saved by a Priest
The origin of Ruchè remains, to this day, shrouded in mystery. The most widespread legend has it that Cistercian monks from Burgundy brought it to Piedmont as early as the 12th century, planting it near a Benedictine convent dedicated to Saint Roch, now vanished, not far from Castagnole Monferrato. The name “Ruchè” is said to come from this very saint. Another, more down-to-earth theory derives it from the Piedmontese word roche, which refers to vines planted on the steepest, highest slopes of Monferrato.
But a DNA analysis carried out in 2016 changed the picture: far from being an imported variety, Ruchè would in fact be one hundred per cent Piedmontese, genetically close to two varieties from northern Italy, Croatina and the aromatic Malvasia of Parma, now extinct. The lovely legend of the Burgundian monks would therefore have no genetic basis.
What is certain, however, is its rescue. Until the 1960s, Ruchè was only a minor variety, barely good for table grapes or blending wine. It was a priest, Don Giacomo Cauda, who changed its destiny after arriving as a parish priest in Castagnole Monferrato. Responsible for a small parish vineyard planted with ten rows of Ruchè, he stubbornly believed in the variety’s potential and began to vinify it seriously. With the support of the village mayor, Livia Bianco, and a schoolteacher, Romana Valenzano, his stubbornness paid off: Ruchè obtained its DOC in 1987, then, the ultimate recognition, its DOCG in 2010. It is the smallest appellation of that rank in Piedmont, barely 110 hectares spread over only seven municipalities.
Even today, its name remains disputed: a veritable “Ruchè war” recently pitted producers against the municipality over its use. A sign, if one were needed, that a variety saved from oblivion by a stubborn priest has become, fifty years later, a treasure worth fighting over.
Ruchè di Castagnole Monferrato DOCG 2025 “4 Sorelle” — Bersano
A cuvée dedicated to the four owners of the Bersano house. Vineyards in Castagnole Monferrato (San Pietro Realto locality), on clay-silt and sandy soils. Fermented with skin maceration in automated stainless steel tanks, with repeated pump-overs and aeration, followed by a short two-month ageing in tank on fine lees to encourage malolactic fermentation.
Ruchè di Castagnole Monferrato DOCG 2025 “Il Ruché” — Gianni Doglia,
Ruchè on clay-limestone soils, hand-harvested in mid-September. After destemming and crushing, fermentation comes with a maceration of around ten to twelve days. The wine then rests for six months in stainless steel, with no oak. The plot covers around one hectare, for a very limited production.
Ruchè di Castagnole Monferrato DOCG 2021 “Gli amis” Reserva – La Miraja
An estate housed in the medieval castle of Castagnole Monferrato (an 11th-century arsenal that became a cellar in the 15th century). Eugenio Gatti, the seventh generation, farms fewer than 4 hectares organically and by hand. The Riserva comes from the two oldest plots (planted in 1971). It is aged for 24 months in used 500-litre French oak casks, then for three months in bottle.
Ruchè di Castagnole Monferrato DOCG 2023 “Riserva Il Fondatore” — Montalbera
A prestige cuvée dedicated to the founding grandfather of the house, which alone produces around 60% of the world’s Ruchè. Built for ageing, it is more structured and complex than the classic cuvée (“La Tradizione”).
Five Curiosities Not to Miss
If Barbera, Grignolino and Ruchè are the three pillars of my discovery, five other varieties deserve a special mention: rarer still, but just as revealing of Monferrato’s richness.
First surprise, and not the least: Nebbiolo. Yes, the grape of Barolo and Barbaresco also has its little enclave in Monferrato. At Albugnano, the region’s highest point at 549 metres, a handful of winegrowers have defended since 2017 a tiny appellation, under fifty hectares, under the very name “Albugnano 549”. Nebbiolo has been grown there since the 18th century at least, on the white soils around the splendid Romanesque abbey of Vezzolano, first mentioned in 1148. Here it takes on a different face from that of the neighbouring Langhe: slimmer, more tense, with gentler tannins. An amusing anecdote picked up along the way: in 1868, it was a sparkling version of Nebbiolo d’Albugnano that won a prize at a wine exhibition in Asti, long before anyone elsewhere in Italy thought of making bubbles with this grape.
Freisa is next: a native red variety, capable of very different styles depending on the winegrower’s hand, dry or lightly sparkling, light or more structured, sometimes with that characteristic touch of bitterness that is all its charm for anyone who learns to tame it.
Malvasia Nera too: less common, but unmistakable for its musky, aromatic nose, which brings an almost exotic touch among the region’s more classic reds.
And for a change of colour, Timorasso : a native white variety long neglected, rescued from oblivion by a handful of passionate winegrowers, and now recognised as one of Piedmont’s great white wines for ageing. Lively in youth, it develops mineral notes over time and a surprisingly ample texture, proof that Monferrato doesn’t keep its surprises for the reds alone.
One last curiosity, and not the least: Albarossa. This red variety is not ancestral like the others, but born of a wager: that of the ampelographer Giovanni Dalmasso, who wanted to marry the quality potential of Nebbiolo with the vigour and resilience of Barbera. It was discovered much later, through genetic analysis, that the second parent was in fact not Nebbiolo but Chatus, a nice scientific twist. Still, Albarossa did inherit Barbera’s qualities: late ripening and a lovely freshness, particularly on Monferrato’s limestone soils.
Freisa d’Asti Superiore DOC “Arvelé” 2021 — Cascina Gilli
From plot selections. Freisa can be sparkling or still depending on the cuvée: a naturally lightly sparkling character typical of some interpretations of the grape.
Malvasia di Castelnuovo Don Bosco DOC 2025 — Cascina Gilli
A sweet, lightly sparkling red (5.5% alcohol) from the DOC of the same name: a rare, historic Monferrato wine based on aromatic Malvasia.
Colli Tortonesi DOC Timorasso 2025 “Calypsos” — Montalbera
From the Colli Tortonesi, on the edge of Monferrato. A low- and irregular-yielding grape, long sacrificed after phylloxera in favour of Cortese, and now enjoying a full revival.
Piemonte DOC 2023 “Albarossa” – Marenco
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100% Albarossa, a cross of Chatus (“Nebbiolo di Dronero”) and Barbera identified in 1938 by Professor Dalmasso. Vines near Strevi, at 350 metres, on white marl-limestone soils facing south-west. Fermented in stainless steel, then aged for at least 18 months in oak barrels of various sizes before bottling.
Albugnano Superiore DOC 2023 “Notturno” — Cascina Gilli
Nebbiolo from the hills of Monferrato Astigiano, under the Albugnano Superiore DOC, on limestone soils. One of the benchmark Nebbiolos of the appellation.
Tomorrow's Wines: When Monferrato Looks to the Future
What struck me most, over the course of this trip, is how Monferrato’s winegrowers don’t live only in their past. They are already working on their wines of tomorrow, facing both climate and style.
The first challenge is warming. It is upending vineyards everywhere: harvests are getting earlier, grapes accumulate more sugar, and therefore more alcohol, and lose acidity, that balance which gives a wine its freshness and its ability to age. Against this, Barbera has a rare asset: an exceptionally high natural acidity, the most marked of all the major Piedmontese varieties. It is no accident that it has exported so well to hot climates, in California or Argentina. The Consorzio Barbera d’Asti e Vini del Monferrato is well aware of this: it now runs a research programme called AGEBA, which surveys old pre-clonal Barbera vines to identify the plants best equipped to face climate change. Barbera is not spared by warming, but it starts with a head start that few varieties can claim.
This openness to change is not only a matter of climate: it is written into the rules. Since 1994, the Piemonte DOC has allowed still, semi-sparkling, sparkling and sweet wines, and it has recently welcomed newcomers, such as Albarossa as a sparkling rosé. Winegrowers are embracing it.
Bubbles. At Montalbera, I tasted two sparkling wines, a Brut Cuvée Rosé and an Extra Dry Cuvée Blanche, made by the Martinotti method. The vivid acidity of Piedmont finds a natural playground here, at a time when demand for sparkling wine keeps growing.
Rosé. It makes an appearance too. At Gianni Doglia, “Il Rosé” is a Piemonte DOC [100% Freisa]. At Gianluca Roero, “I Could Have Been a Tough Guy” [Nebbiolo].
Ripeness. Then there is the question of ripeness: how far to push the grape, and what to do with all that sugar? At Franco Roero, “Non Piove Più” is a late-harvest Barbera. It is the opposite of a defensive reflex: Barbera turns overripeness into a style, without losing the acidity that is its signature.
Piemonte DOC “Il Rosé” 2025 – Gianni Doglia
Piemonte DOC Rosato, 100% Freisa. Hand-harvested, pressed as soon as the grapes reach the cellar, with five hours of skin contact, and fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts only.
“I Could Have Been a Tough Guy” 2025 – Gianluca Roero
A Piemonte DOC Rosato from Franco Roero’s son, at Montegrosso d’Asti. A rosé made from Nebbiolo.
“Cuvée Rosé” Brut & “Cuvée Blanche” Extra Dry – Montalbera
Two non-vintage sparkling wines made by the Martinotti method: a long, low-temperature second fermentation in pressurised tanks, from black grapes. Aged in stainless steel, then in bottle, stored upright. The Rosé Brut is based on Grignolino; the Blanche is a blanc de noirs from Barbera.
“Tra l’Altro” 2025 – Carussin
A Moscato Bianco (Moscato Bianco di Canelli) made dry and still, at San Marzano Oliveto. It comes from an estate of around 19 hectares farmed organically and biodynamically.
“Non Piove Più” 2021 —Franco Roero
Barbera harvested late (November 2021) on the Zucchetto hill, in clay-rich, highly calcareous soils. Barbera is usually picked at the end of September or in early October. The dry climate now allows the grapes to hang on the vine much longer, something that was impossible only a few years ago. The name, “it no longer rains”, seems to echo this climate change. An ultra-limited cuvée from a single half-muid.
Piedmont isn’t just Nebbiolo. Monferrato is living proof that, alongside the big names, an entire region is patiently cultivating its own identity, variety by variety, village by village, and that it also has a real head start for facing tomorrow’s challenges.
This article was born from a press trip, “Discovering Monferrato”, by the Consorzio Barbera d’Asti e Vini del Monferrato. Thank you to its whole team, to Victoria Bakalinskaya for her masterclass, and to the winegrowers who opened their cellars to us: Cascina Gilli, Tenuta Santa Caterina, Montalbera, Marchesi Incisa della Rocchetta, Gianni Doglia, Bersano, Franco Roero and Carussin.
Thank you also to those who explored the region with me: Cindy N’Kele (United States), Akihiko Yamamoto (Japan), Estela Jing Zhang (China), Robin G. (UK).
The choices and opinions expressed here are mine alone.