We are proud to announce that our Metodo Classico 38 months Alta Langa DOCG 2014, has been awarded 5 spheres in Sparkle 2019.

This is the first in its kind that awards Italian sparkling wines, and again this year our Spumante has been quoted as one of the best Italian Spumante’s. On Saturday 1st December we will be in Rome, at the Westing Excelsior Hotel in Via Veneto, to receive our award and the rest of the afternoon will be open to the public for the winetasting.

We invite you to come and join us and taste with us our Alta Langa DOCG 2014.

The High class Sparkling wine world met up on Sparkle Day, on the 1st December in Rome, at the Westin Excelsior Hotel, where the Sparkle 2019 edition was presented; the guide to the best dry Italian Sparkling wines. Our Metodo Classico 38 months Alta Langa DOCG 2014 won 5 spheres in Sparkle 2019.
The first in its kind that awards Italian sparkling wines, and again this year our Spumante has been quoted as one of the best in Italy.

Two moments of the press conference – in which Mary Cacciola and Andrea Lucatello, the pair from Radio Capital, accompanied Francesco D’Agostino with the prizegiving of the 5 spheres, to the top wines of the new edition, carefully selectioned by Cucina & Vini and a widespread tasting of over 200 different wines and sixtytwo different wineries.

This year the guide chose 791 labels from all over Italy, from more than 2000 tastings, and of these 2000, 70 wines were awarded with 5 spheres. The highest possible award.

“The Sparkling wine guide” – says Francesco D’Agostino, director of Cucina & Vini and curator of Sparkle – has become a vademecum for those who want to come closer to the sparkling wine world.

Obviously the areas which are most suitable for sparkling wines is Franciacorta, Trento, Alta Langa, Veneto, Alto Adige, Oltrepo Pavese and Roero, and these produce and guarantee the top level sparkling wines. These 70 awarded wines can be without a doubt, compared to the best Sparkling wines in the world. The consumption of Sparkling wines in the world is increasing as can be seen by recent figures from all over the world.

Geological Formation of the Langhe

The geological formations of the Langhe and Monferrato are made up of sea sediments because in the period of the Lower-Middle Miocene Epoch (8 to 10 million years ago) this area was a part of the Gulf of the Po Valley (then an inlet of the Tethys Ocean).

Marl and sandstone compositions rich in calcium carbonate and other extremely favourable elements from the pedological point of view formed little by little over the years. In particular, in the Langhe four different kinds of soil formed: – the composition of Lequio : (Serravallian or Helvetian age formation stage, which is the most ancient formation) grey marls alternating with sandstones made up of siliceous sands more or less cemented, when in the presence of calcium and iron bicarbonate it takes shade of reddish grey; – the sandstones of Diano : (Helvetian age formation stage) brown-grey or yellowish with grey sandstones (compact sands cemented by carbonates); – the marls of Sant’Agata : (Tortonian age formation stage) rich in magnesium and manganese carbonate which in the surface takes a whitish-grey shade following the action of atmospheric agents; they are clays mixed with very fine sands with a concentrated calcareous component; – the gypseous and sulphur-bearing areas are less beneficial for vine formation: scant agronomic importance. In all these formations the litholitic layers often vary, partly according to the depth, and the differences amongst such compositions are due to their period of origin.

As regards the character and the final organoleptic result of a wine, it is mainly dictated by the soil, as well as by altitude, the exposure, the order of implantation, the yields per vine stock, the agronomic practices in general and the oenological ones; we can therefore state that: – the gypseous and sulphur-bearing areas are the less beneficial for vines; – the marls of Sant’Agata give wines elegance together with delicate aromas, thinness, fruity taste and not too much tannin, thus not very powerful wines; – the formations of Lequio provide full-bodied, powerful, structured and tannic and consequently long-lived wines; – the sandstones of Diano lead to intermediate results between the two previous extremes with a good compromise among elegance, thinness and structure, good complexity and good future, as well as a good tannic weft. Most of our vineyards lie upon the lithologies where the sandstones of Diano (Dolcetto, Arneis, Favorita, Barbera, Nebbiolo) prevail, partly upon the marls of Sant’Agata (Dolcetto, Barbera, Arneis) and a lesser part upon the formations of Lequio (Nebbiolo Langhe) Written By Mario Giribaldi.