DWNL - Alessandro Salvano
ALESSANDRO SALVANO

Artisan vigneron crafting Langhe wines beyond labels and appellations

snapshot

Region: Montelupo Albese, Langhe, Piedmont, Italy
Style: Non-interventionist, freshness-driven
Grapes: Nebbiolo, Dolcetto, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir
Farming: Organic, hand-worked, no herbicides or pesticides
Winemaking: Whole-cluster, indigenous yeasts, no fining or filtration, minimal SO₂ Signature: Vineyards just outside the Barolo DOCG — same soils, no denomination premium

“The idea is that today, if you are a good winemaker and grower, you don’t have to worry about appellation.”

ALESSANDRO SALVANO

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  • DWNL - Outside 2022

    DWNL - Outside 2022

    DWNL - Outside 2022

    €55,00 EUR
    Sale price  €55,00 EUR Regular price 
  • DWNL - Nebbiolo 2024

    DWNL - Nebbiolo 2024

    DWNL - Nebbiolo 2024

    €28,00 EUR
    Sale price  €28,00 EUR Regular price 
  • DWNL - Pinot Noir 2024

    DWNL - Pinot Noir 2024

    DWNL - Pinot Noir 2024

    €28,00 EUR
    Sale price  €28,00 EUR Regular price 
  • DWNL - Chardonnay 2024

    DWNL - Chardonnay 2024

    DWNL - Chardonnay 2024

    €28,00 EUR
    Sale price  €28,00 EUR Regular price 
  • DWNL - Dolcetto 2024

    DWNL - Dolcetto 2024

    DWNL - Dolcetto 2024

    €28,00 EUR
    Sale price  €28,00 EUR Regular price 

HOW HE GOT HERE

Alessandro Salvano grew up in Montelupo Albese, east of Serralunga d'Alba, where both his grandparents were winemakers. The land around him was Langhe through and through — blue marl soils, hillside exposures, Nebbiolo in the ground — just a few meters outside the Barolo DOCG boundary drawn in the 1980s. That detail would shape everything that came after.

He trained at the Scuola Enologica in Alba and worked at Borgogno before spending time abroad. When he returned, the question he brought back with him was pointed: why should a line on a map determine how seriously a wine is taken? In 2019 he founded Drink Wines Not Labels — a project designed to answer that question through the glass rather than through argument.

His first release, the Nebbiolo Outside, was the clearest statement of intent: a wine aged with the rigour of a traditional Barolo, from vineyards that could have been inside the zone, bottled without the name. DWNL is Alessandro's ongoing case that quality is defined by farming, method, and place — not by the denomination printed on the label.

Where The Wine Is Born

Montelupo Albese sits on the eastern edge of the Langhe hills, just outside the southeastern boundary of the Barolo DOCG. The village is quiet and unassuming — no prestige attached, no premium built into the postcode. But the land tells a different story. The soils here are composed of blue-grey marl, the same Helvetian and Tortonian geology that defines the most prized crus inside the denomination. Altitude, exposure, and the Langhe's continental microclimate apply equally on both sides of the line.

Alessandro's parcels sit on well-exposed hillside slopes that extend ripening and preserve freshness — conditions that allow Nebbiolo to develop structure and aromatic complexity without losing tension. Dolcetto, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir occupy the remaining plots, each variety finding a footing suited to the elevation and soil depth.

What the terroir offers, Alessandro doesn't overcorrect. The wines are shaped by place first — the denomination question is secondary, almost incidental. These hillsides produce wines with energy and precision because the conditions demand it, not because a classification requires it.

MONTELUPO
ALBESE

How the wine feels

Unbound Identity

Nebbiolo and varietals sing with freshness and clarity beyond classification norms.

Whole-Cluster Energy

Native yeast fermentations and whole clusters give vitality and aromatic lift.

Terroir First

Soil and site come through as tension and precision, without artifice.

FOR THE NERDS

Drink Wines Not Labels is a small project — Alessandro works primarily with family land and his uncle's vineyards, totalling around 6 hectares in Montelupo Albese. The soils are blue-grey marl, compositionally close to the Helvetian and Tortonian layers found in Serralunga and Castiglione Falletto, sitting at moderate Langhe altitude with good southern and southeastern exposures. Nebbiolo is the anchor variety, joined by Dolcetto, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir.

Farming is fully organic — no herbicides, no pesticides, everything hand-worked. In the cellar, Alessandro ferments with indigenous yeasts using whole clusters, avoids fining and filtration entirely, and keeps SO₂ additions to a minimum. The flagship Nebbiolo Outside follows extended ageing in line with traditional Barolo timelines, though it carries a Langhe DOC designation by necessity.

The remaining wines in the range — reds and whites across the varieties — are built for freshness and immediate precision rather than cellaring weight. The project is deliberately lean: no marketing architecture, no prestige positioning. Just vineyard, cellar, and the argument that the wine makes for itself.

“In recent years, I have often wondered whether it still makes sense to define strict borders for these territories, and if the geographical lines drawn over 40 years ago truly determine the quality of a product in today’s context.”