The Story of a Sparkling Underdog
Who doesn’t love to find a diamond in the rough when it comes to wine? Better yet, when the wine is as refined as one of the best Champagnes?
Enter Alta Langa. It’s a champagne style wine that, despite being a new comer to the DOCG appellation scene in the Italian wine world, it’s been around for a long time, much longer than the more popular Italian Champagne style wines of the Franciacorta appellation.
Think of Alta Langa as the Chicago Cubs of Italian Classic Method sparkling wines, as of their last World Series win in 2016. Like the Chicago Cubs is to American baseball, the Alta Langa wine appellation is to Italian sparkling wines because it is
historic,
has deep roots to its area,
is the first known type of Champagne style of wine in Italy with long tradition,
and produces exceptional wines yet is often overlooked compared to their more well known, neighboring appellations of Italian sparkling wine that made like Champagne, like Franciacorta and Trento DOC.
Alta Langa is a wine that is both old and yet new. How is this possible? Come, get to know Alta Langa.
The Ivaldi winery in the Monferrato makes an Alta Langa, named Andrea for the fourth generation winemaker.
The Deep Roots of Alta Langa
The first historical whisperings of Alta Langa, the wine, come as early as the 17th century when winemakers in Piedmont Italy were experimenting with sparkling wines and producing something called "crespie" from the local well loved nebbiolo grapes.
Around the 1700s, local lore references a nobleman in the area known as Alta Langa. Alta Langa, the place, is part of the greater Langhe area, going south towards the Mediterranean Sea and bordering Liguria. In fact, they say it’s where in the Langhe you can see the sea, which is thanks also to its higher elevations, hence the name “Alta" Langa, where alta means high. This nobleman was inspired to plant pinot noir and chardonnay grapes, which was “radical” for the local winemakers who were used to making wine only from local grapes, eg nebbiolo, barbera, dolcetto. Apparently, the nobleman was unsuccessful in convincing them to make wine from pinot noir and chardonnay… but it seems that somehow the idea of using these French grapes to make sparkling wine caught on because Thomas Jefferson was caught talking about a crisp sparkling wine from Piedmont during a trip to Turin, or Torino, the capital of Piemonte.
This early experimentation laid the foundation for a sparkling wine tradition in Piedmont that would become Alta Langa wine.
Then, in the early 1900s, the Universal Exhibition of Paris included a new Piemontese offering: a classic method sparkling wine styled after Champagne, indicating the tradition of Alta Langa wine was continuing and gaining traction.
However, crisp, traditional method sparkling wine, like Alta Langa wine, began to slip behind in popularity as the Asti Method of sparkling wine, to make sweet wines like Moscato d’Asti, gained in popularity.
But, thankfully, the Alta Langa wine tradition was kept alive by the locals. The wine was enjoyed by those “in the know”, and did, indeed, gain a great reputation in the region. However, due to the fact the Alta Langa wine was basically unknown outside the local community, when Italian Champagne style wines started to get popular (think Franciacorta!), Alta Langa wine remained on the sidelines.
That is, until an insulting article roiled Alta Langa wine producers, who decided that it was time they got their own appellation and join the ranks of the best wines of Italy…
Winemaker Andrea Ivaldi enjoying a glass of his Alta Langa, named after him.
The New History of Alta Langa
Remember how we said that Alta Langa is both old and new? This is because it is a style of wine that has been made in Piedmont and the Langhe for hundreds of years, however, it only became a DOC in 2002 and a DOCG in 2011. And the story of how that happened is definitely worthy of the title of “underdog”.
Sparkling wine in Italy is nothing new or special; a wine lover has many to choose from. There are even several traditional method, or Champagne style, sparkling wines, the most famous being Franciacorta, Trento DOC, and Oltrepo Pavese. These were the first codified denominations for traditional method sparkling wines in Italy, and some of them, like Franciacorta for example, can command prices that get close to Champagne. In fact, in 1990 these three famous sparkling wine appellations released a press release citing their wines as unequivocally the best traditional method sparkling wines in Italy and any others were basically posers.
And this infuriated those in what is today the Alta Langa DOCG wine region. They were incensed by this arrogant disregard, so much so that 7 Alta Langa producers, led by the likes of Carlo Gancia, Contratto, Fontanafredda, and Cinzanzo, banded together to thumb their figurative noses at Franciacorta: They were going to earn their DOCG.
To create a DOCG is no easy task. It is full of omplicated and minute rules and details which must be written and decided on, tested, and proven to produce relatively consistent results. The Alta Langa group searched around for a researcher, agronomist, and winemaker that could help them design the experiments, methodologies, and eventual regulations of the Alta Langa DOCG. So, they phoned the best viticultural researcher out there: our own Lorenzo Corino!
Lorenzo Corino, besides being the 5th of his now 6 generation family winery, Case Corini, now run by his two children after his passing. If you read our memoriam for Lorenzo, you will remember that his primary employment was as an agricultural researcher. And pairing Lorenzo with a French winemaker from Champagne was a world class A team to craft the rules that would become the Alta Langa appellation.
Experimentation included things like deciding which altitudes produced high quality grapes, which soils and villages were best adapted for Alta Langa production. The key was to take hundreds of years of traditions, sort through them. Then to decide which were the best methods and places to codify into a singular “wine”.
Finally, in 2000 they had enough data to start the proposal process, with DOCG status being awarded in 2011, which is a relatively recent date for such an old wine.
All of this is perfectly summed up by the legal denomination documents, produced by certification committee ValorItalia, that describes the Alta Langa wine as “[…] a product that represents the excellence of Piedmontese sparkling wines worldwide.” A fitting ending for all the hard work, and a fitting recognition for such a special wine.
How to Make Alta Langa
Alta Langa is made in the traditional method, also known as Méthode Champenoise, or Champagne Method, as well as Classic Method style of sparkling wines. Here’s a quick recap on what exactly that means.
With a Champagne style wine, grape juice is fermented as with any normal still wine, usually in stainless steel tanks. When the wine has fermented completely, with no more sugar for yeasts to munch on, the still, non-sparkling wine is then given a dose of sugar and yeast to restart a second fermentation. This mixture is then bottled and tightly sealed. The second fermentation produces Co2, but thanks to the cap, it cannot escape and is thus dissolved into the liquid, creating the bubbles we know and love.
Once all the sugar is consumed by the yeast inside the bottle during the second fermentation, the lees, which are the natural remains of yeast, and other particles, fall to the bottom of the bottle. The wine will rest like this for some time. How long is at the discretion of the winemaker, and this time is known as “aging sur lie” or aging on the lees. When the wine is finished “aging”, a complicated procedure known as disgorgement takes place, the bottle is corked with the recognizable cork and cage. Then, some producers decide to age the wine longer before or release, but, essentially, it is ready to be popped and enjoyed.
This whole process is described more in detail in our article about “How to Make Sparkling Wine”, so check it out to learn more about how sparkling wine is made.
Alta Langa, the Appellation
How to make Alta Langa is a very specific, codified process, laying out grape varieties, harvest density, sugar levels, aging time, geographic limitations and so much more. This set of “rules” are known as the denomination, or appellation, and the Alta Langa has one of the highest and most controlled denominations in Italy, the DOCG (denominazione di origine controllata e garantita). This is the same level where we find Barolos and Brunellos for example.
For a wine to be an Alta Langa, a winemaker must use Chardonnay and/or Pinot Noir grapes (a minimum combined of 90%). Winemakers can choose to use all chardonnay, all pinot noir, or a blend of the two. The remaining 10% can be comprised of local natve varieties from Piedmont, such as nebbiolo, dolcetto, or barbera.
All grapes must be harvested from at least one of the appellation’s specified villages which has a pretty expansive territory covering various municipalities across the provinces of Asti, Cuneo and Alessandria in the Piedmont region of Italy. Of those vineyard locations, only 11 tonnes of grapes per hectare can be harvested, and the vineyard must be over a certain elevation.
The wine also must be made in one of these locations, and the wine must be made in the traditional method, and must age on the lees for a minimum of 30 months. Alta Langa Riservas must be aged for 36 months on the lees before degorgement.
All sorts of colors can be allowed under the Alta Langa label, from blanc de blancs (white from white grapes), to blanc de noir (white from red grapes) and even rosato or rosé.
Residual sugar levels can be variable, but the language used on the label to tell the consumer how much “sweetness” to expect is the standard categories used in Europe to indicate the amount of sugar in the sparkling wine: Zero Dosage, Brut, Extra Dry, etc. To learn more about techniques involving sugar in wine, read our article “Breaking Down Sugar and Wine”.
Tasting an Alta Langa
What can you expect from sipping an Alta Langa? Let’s take a specific example: the Ivaldi Andrea Alta Langa. It is an Extra Brut, and has been aged for 30 months on the lees. It is a “blanc de blanc”, or made with 100% chardonnay from the Ivaldi family’s Nizza Monferrato vineyards.
The Ivaldi family has been making wine in the Monferrato for four generations, with the latest being Andrea Ivaldi. They make a wide variety of traditional wines from the area. A blender of tradition and innovation, it is no surprise that he would also venture into Alta Langa wines. Being the first of his family to make an Alta Langa, their version is rightly so named for Andrea himself.
The Ivaldi Andrea Alta Langa is full of flavors of bread crust, caramel, and candied fruit. Pleasant tactile bubbles, fresh acidity, and yeasty flavors from the lees aging makes this a unique wine that is round, creamy and with a nice balance between acidity and fruit. This can come from the lees aging, but also can be from the fact that winemaker Andrea chooses to harvest his fruit a little later, gives us a wine that has a nice fruit, body, and balance. It is a great marriage of traditional yeasty flavors and aromas, but with a pleasant sippability that makes this a fun wine to pop for a celebration, or for a simple aperitivo with friends.
Get Your Hands on a Small Production Alta Langa
We exist to allow all Americans, across the US, from businesses to consumers, to experience the pleasures of farm to glass wines, like the Ivaldi Andrea Alta Langa. Of course, you cannot forget a patented wine stopper, beloved by wine professionals the world over. It will keep your Alta Langa bubbles fresh for up to 3 days! How can you get your hands on this and other hidden gems we forage for?
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