Quite an interesting & nicely done article by Stephanie Johnson in the latest W&S magazine on the AltoPiemonte:
W&S:AltoPiemonte ,
describing the recent resurgence of the region.
I’ve noted a fair number of new producers appearing on the shelves from areas other than Gattinara in the last few yrs. For many yrs, the Quisimodo-shaped btls of Traveligini was about all you’d see, plus a few Antoniolo’s. Their use of Vespolina/Croatina to take the fearsome tannic edge off the Nebbiolo is one of the advantages this area has over the B/B paradigm.
Some exciting times up there.
Tom
Yep and much looking forward to our trip back home this year after a two year hiatus. Such fantastic wines around Ghemme and Gattinara. Love the stuff out of Carema as well (but really really needs time) and we are doing more explorations down into the Canavese. Some wonderful places around the Canavese as well. Look forward to having you for a visit one day Tom.
Andrew,
The Canavese (and Val d’Osola) are two regions I’d love to explore more of. Only have had one Canavese wine, a Cieck Nebbiolo. Liked it
quite a bit. You just don’t see much of those wine here. I love Erbaluce as well. DarrellCorti brought a 25 yr old Erbaluce Passito Caluso
(from Dr. ??..the famous one) to one of our NEB’s and it was terrific.
I’d love to take you up on your invite someday, Andrew.
Tom
I was surprised the article didn’t mention Carema - I would have placed it as a town in Alto Piemonte, but it is quite a bit to the west of the map they included in the article, so perhaps they don’t consider that area as being part of Alto Piemonte?
I was always confounded by the effort expended to offer a decent wine in a twisted bottle. Why didn’t they just make a better wine in a typical Bordeaux-shaped bottle? 
I hope to encounter better Gattinara wines in the future. I have only tasted one other, which was not memorable itself.
I enjoyed the article either way. I have liked some non-Neb reds from the AP.
Er, make that AA (Alto Adige).
Was there again a few weeks ago, and I find the area just fascinating. Comparing the photos at Le Piane from 1900 (where it’s all vineyards), 1960 (hardly any vineyards), and the 2000s (some vineyards) is really fascinating. And the wines are delicious. It’s definitely a throwback to another time…
IIRC not a historic shape, but a few decades ago, the owner decided he wanted something distinctive, and it’s worked. The bottle shape is recognisable (and it helps the wine is good). Absolute pain to stack though!
I attended this dinner with Stephanie where there were some outstanding Alto Piemontese wines:
http://www.finewinegeek.com/tn/2017-08-08_EdZ_AltoPiem_Gander/
A good friend, whose first love is Burgundy, was headed to Maialino this past weekend and asked me for recos from their wine list. I suggested a few including the 1958 Nervi Gattinara that I had liked so much in the above tasting. I was happy to see he loved it too. Unfortunately, he did drink their last bottle.
Really should post this link to Tom’s excellent write-up from a tasting of non-Barolo/Barbaresco Nebbiolos in June, presented by Oliver McCrum and Darrell Corti:
TN: Tasting Alt-Nebbs w/ Darrell & Oliver @ NEB#7…(long/boring)