Francesco Brigatti: super talent from Alto Piemonte - from Erbaluce to Ghemme

Francesco Brigatti is a highly professional, small wine grower in the north of Piedmont. His production numbers are very low but are all testimony to elegant, expressive wines based on the classic Nebbiolo. He also produces delicious authentic wines from the indigenous varieties that are normally blended with Nebbiolo in this area, such as Vespolina and Uva Rara, and a top class Erbaluce white wine. His cellar is located in Suno, not far from the southern end of Lake Maggiore.

Nebbiolo based wines from this region (Alto Piemonte) are strikingly different from those of Barolo and Barbaresco, especially in structure (they are usually less tannic and less alcoholic). The climate here is slightly cooler, with breezes from Monte Rosa to the north giving excellent day/night temperature variation; and the soils are very different, sour moraine clay instead of alkaline calcareous clay in the Langa.

Francesco Brigatti: 'My grandfather started the family farm in 1920. He had a few cows and grew grapes, some grain and fruit, but eventually fell in love with grape growing, sold the cows and became a full-time grape grower. So I am the third generation on our farm. I graduated from the University of Turin in agronomy, and spent a few years at university working on the clonal selection of grapevines; then a new boss moved me from the field to a desk job behind a computer, so I left university and dedicated myself to our family estate.

Today, I'm a winegrower on just over six acres, some of my vineyards are planted with massive selection and others with clones. The soils are very acidic (pH about 5-5.5, very rich in potassium and magnesium, giving the wines a savoury character. There is a fair amount of clay in the vineyards.

THE WINES

ERBALUCE 'MOTTO BELLO

Erbaluce is a very distinctive white grape variety native to northern Piedmont. This example is made from grapes grown in two vineyards, one planted in the 1980s and one planted in the 1990s. The bunches of grapes can be at low temperature at night to remove the flavours from the skins, after which they are pressed and fermented without the addition of yeasts. Fermentation and maturation takes place in stainless steel tanks, malolactic fermentation is avoided, the wine is aged on the fine lees until Christmas and bottled in the spring after harvest.

Mottobello' is light straw yellow in colour, with greenish sparkles; aroma and taste of peaches, herbs, flowers; light chewing texture with very good fresh acidity; complex, distinctive white wine.

UVA RARA 'SELVALUNGA'...

Uva Rara is a black grape found in the north of Piedmont and the Oltrepò Pavese; 'rara' here means 'sparse,' because the grapes are sparsely spread over the bunches. The soil is moraine, acidic and rich in minerals; the grapes are picked at the end of September, after being de-stemmed and crushed, the wine is fermented on the skins for about five days. After primary and secondary fermentation, the wine is aged in stainless steel tanks for six months before being bottled.

Description'...bright dark red in colour...The aroma is...very complex, with hints of red roses, violet, red, almost black cherries, and raspberries and sweet herbs. Very fresh acidity, mid-weight tannins, a good addition to smoked meat, most pasta dishes, roast chicken...

VESPOLINA 'MARIA

Until recently, the grape was mostly blended in wines made mainly from Nebbiolo, but the quality and distinctiveness of the best varietal hips encourage more producers to try it, despite the fact that it is difficult to market very good quality. Brigatti's Vespolina was planted in the 1980s in acid soil of moraine origin. The grapes are picked in September and fermented in stainless steel tanks, where they are in contact with the skins for about a week. The wine is then aged in stainless steel for about six months before bottling.

The wine combines bright red fruit notes with distinct herbal and herbal notes (the grape is rich in rotundone, an aromatic constituent of some herbs such as marjoram and also black pepper). This bottling shows fine tannins and fresh acidity in addition to the juicy fruit notes and is an excellent everyday red wine.

BRIGATTI NEBBIOLO COLLINE NOVARESI 'MÖTFREI'.

The Mötfrei vineyard was planted in Nebbiolo at the beginning of the 1980s, in iron-rich sandy reddish soil, about 300 metres above sea level. Normally harvesting takes place in mid-October; the grapes are stemmed, crushed and fermented in a stainless steel fermenter with no added yeast. (Francesco does use a 'pied de cuve', where fermentation begins a few days before harvesting). The wine is pumped over once a day and macerated with the skins for about two weeks; malolactic fermentation and maturation take place in blunt (not new) for 18 months. The wine is dry fermented and bottled without fining or filtering. Approximately 3,000 bottles are produced per year.

The Colline Novaresi appellation is the equivalent of Langhe Nebbiolo in the Barolo/Barbaresco area, but this wine is finer than that would suggest.

This Nebbiolo is simply beautiful: translucent garnet color, aroma and taste of red fruit (red berries, raspberries), with hints of angelica, leaf mould and baker's herbs; beautiful texture, mouth filling but silky; very long and complex.

BRIGATTI GHEMME 'OLTRE IL BOSCO' DOCG

Completely made of Nebbiolo, from two vineyards in the Pelizzane and Livelli areas of Ghemme, on the edge of the wood that divides the two areas of the appellation. The soils here are moray clay, very acidic (5.5 pH), and planted with a moderate density (4,000 vines per hectare). Harvesting takes place in mid-October; after rising and crushing the bunches, the must is fermented using indigenous yeasts in cement tanks, with the shell being immersed in the must with a grid ('cappo sommerso'), as usual, for 60 days. The wine is then aged for two years in large (1,500 litre) oak barrels. No filtration and no vinification.