Roero

Roero
Roero cellar

Name

Roero

Seal of quality

Guarantee of Origin and Protected Designation of Origin.

A.O.C. – D.P.R. 18th April 1985

A.O.C.G. – D.M. 23th March 2006

Description

A fragrant and sweet wine, elegant and rich in sensations, beginning with its attractive ruby red colour. Its deep fruity hues, that delightfully recall violets, raspberries, wild strawberries, does not conceal a delicate ethereal tone that evoke hints of spice.

It is a wine made from nebbiolo grapes with the possibility of up to a maximum 5% supplement of other non-aromatic black grape vines. Its total minimum alcoholic content is 12.5% vol. The minimum ageing period is 20 months, of which at least 6 months in wooden barrels, if this period extends to 32 months, it can bear the qualification “superiore” on its label.

Area of production

The area of production is the geographical area of Roero situated on the left of the river Tanaro, and involves the entire administrative region of the communes: Canale, Corneliano d’Alba, Piobesi d’Alba, Vezza d’Alba and a part of the communes: Baldissero d’Alba, Castagnito, Castellinaldo, Govone, Guarene, Magliano Alfieri, Montà, Montaldo Roero, Monteu Roero, Monticello d’Alba, Pocapaglia, Priocca, S. Vittoria d’Alba, S. Stefano Roero, Sommariva Perno on the left of the Tanaro

History

In the Roero area, the land that extends to the left of the Tanaro, the Nebbiolo vine offers another extraordinary wine, that this time takes its name from a region and not from a town, Roero. Perhaps it is because farming in this area has grown so many different crops throughout the centuries, from wheat to fruit, to which the best soils have been dedicated, that vines here have never really been as privileged as elsewhere. It has had to find itself space on the highest hillsides, in poor and sandy soils, where other crops do not yield sufficiently. Nevertheless, the vines are prospering, thus finding the best naturally exposed positions, now the most renowned.

Evidence of the great consideration that has always been given to Nebbiolo in the area’s wine-making economy, from medieval times till now, can be found in business and notarial documentation of noble families who, when stipulating contracts with the bailiffs or leaving inheritances or drawing up inventories, always gave Nebbiolo vines and grapes at least double the value they gave to others.

Rarely used to supply armies passing through, to which less important wines were sent, it was sought-after by the nobility of Turin, also for its sweet characteristics that adapted well to Nebbiolo cultivated in the Roero area.

Ever since the 18 th century, in the cellars of the counts of Guarene, apart from the dry wine, a sweet and agreeable wine has also been produced, but most of all at the beginning of the 20 th century, in full Belle Epoque, Roero Nebbiolo was used as a base to produce the sweet red sparkling wines so in vogue at that time. Sweet sparkling wine could still be found even in the 50s.

In 1994, the “Consorzio di Tutela Barolo, Barbaresco, Alba Langhe and Roero” was founded as a point of reference for wine producers in the area between Langa and Roero, who have identified in this structure a means with which to face together and authoritatively problems relating to the development and organisation of their reality and sector as a whole.

In 1990, the Enoteca Regionale del Roero was set up, a cooperative the members of which are Mayors of the communes of the same area, with the objective of representing and safeguarding the entire production of Roero wines.

Galleria fotografica