Many of you will have noticed that our focus on Piemonte has grown a lot in recent months. It mostly comes from a trip in June, when we had more time and calm to enjoy the place and to visit new winemakers as well as well-known ones.

The Langhe have always been a region we love, but the more you visit, the more you understand. It is a small region, yet wines and soils change from hill to hill, and there is always something new to find.

Much of that is in the ground. Two families of soil meet here. In the west, around La Morra, Verduno and Roddi, the Sant’Agata Fossili marls are younger: mostly silt and clay with limestone, behind wines of finesse and perfume. In the east, around Serralunga and Monforte, the older Lequio formation brings more sandstone and a firmer, more structured wine. Veins of sand and sandstone, as in Bricco Cogni, change the picture again, sometimes within a single hill.

And there is a new generation. Piemonte is going through a moment of bloom: many young people who want to get things done, and who bring seriousness and skill to the wines, like Cristina Prandi or Niccolò and Gaia Bosco. They pay close attention to tradition, and they do not try to clash with it.