Can Alta Langa fizz refresh its image?

My Latest in The Drinks Business:

Can Alta Langa fizz refresh its image?

by L.M. Archer

The challenge for Alta Langa is to transform Italy’s first historic traditional method sparkling wine into a contemporary offering. How are producers responding?

The small Italian appellation of Alta Langa (meaning ‘High Langhe’), spans nearly 460ha across 149 villages within the provinces of Asti, Alessandria, and Cuneo.

Deemed the birthplace of Italy’s first metodo classico wines, Alta Langa’s sparkling production dates back to the 19th century, and according to Italian wine authority and writer Dr. Katarina Andersson began with Count Sambuy’s family.

“However, it took off more with Carlo Gancia and his brother in the mid-19th century, when he returned from his trip to Reims, where he studied Champagne making more closely,” she says. Surviving wine caves built during this time, dubbed ‘underground cathedrals’, earned UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 2014.

Alta Langa achieved DOC status in 2002, followed by DOCG status in 2011.

Symbol of its territory

“Alta Langa is now recognised not only for its quality, but also as a symbol of its territory, with unique and identifiable characteristics,” says former president of the Alta Langa Consorzio, winemaker Giulio Bava of Giulio Cocchi.

Alongside Franciacorte and Trento DOC, “Alta Langa has become one of the three great Italian regions for traditional method sparkling wine, a must-have on wine lists and in Italian wine shops,” he notes.

Complexity, freshness, salinity, and longevity all characterise Alta Langa bubbles.

“Our region’s long tradition of producing metodo classico — dating back to 1865 — has fostered an abundance of winemakers and artisans who have mastered this method, along with all the elements needed to create exceptional sparkling wine,” confirms Nico Conta, president and CEO of Enrico Serafino in Canale d’Alba.

Rigorous regulations

Those elements include rigorous regulations. “Alta Langa is one of the most demanding sparkling wine appellations, requiring vines to be grown at a minimum of 250 metres (820 ft) above sea level, wines to be vintage-dated, and aged on lees for a minimum of 30 months,” says Conta. READ MORE HERE. 

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