Region: Piemonte

Zone:

Langhe DOC

With the introduction of this DOC in 1994, Langhe became one of the newer zones in this category. Langhe was DOC classified mainly to sort out many of the VDT wines from the area. Each of these so-called table wines were exciting and often purely innovative, but to get them to fulfill the DOC(G) requirements, while creating a common marketing platform, it was agreed to award one DOC to the zone.

As the name suggests, the grapes for these wines are cultivated on sunny hills, in a large area encompassing 94 municipalities in the province of Cuneo, the point of origin of many great wines. Additionally, in Langhe there are grapes grown throughout Roero and part of Langhe Monregalesi, both north and west of the Tanaro river.

Regarding red wines, Langhe DOC includes the grapes Nebbiolo, Dolcetto, Barbera and Freisa. Although they are sometimes supplemented by international varieties, these red wine are a bit on the retreat. Regarding white wines, the most popular grapes are Arneis, Favorita and Chardonnay.

The producers in the Langhe area are individualists of the best Italian style and want to stand out. Therefore, the wines may very well fall under the well-known DOC(G) zones, but to differentiate themselves from the crowd, they call these wines of Langhe DOC. An example of this top producer is Angelo Gaja, who has chosen to put its single-marks Barolo/Barbaresco in Langhe DOC, where they are “merely” called Langhe Nebbiolo DOC.

Read more about the wines from Langhe DOC by clicking i the top menu in the right side.