Roero Arneis DOCG Vintage 2016

Arneis is a white grape vine very ancient, originary from Piedmont.

Roero Counts, feudatories of the homonymous area, brought with them some vine shoots from Basso Monferrato in their new feudal territories.

From XV century in fact we found this vine especially in Roero area and some sources link his name to the latin term Renexij, after the name of Renesio hill, behind the town of Canale.

After many centuries of popularity, this varietal was heavily hit by the wine crisis and depopulation of the countryside that occurred during the inter-war period.

Towards the end of the 1960s, Arneis was nearly lost, cultivated in only a few rows within Nebbiolo vineyards because the sweetness of its fruit attracted hungry birds, keeping them at bay from the more remunerative Nebbiolo.

It was thanks to the entrepreneurial know-how of a small group of producers, who realised that a good white wine among so many reds was necessary to the area, that Arneis was saved from extinction and production recommenced.

Part of Arneis’ recent success is undoubtedly due to careful selection of clones which has significantly improved its quality.

Until a few decades ago, in fact, Arneis vines tended to become deformed – probably giving rise to the name of the vine itself, which, in local dialect signifies a madcap or capricious person.

In the dry sandstone of the Roero, soft, permeable soils where the layers of sand are interspersed with marl, the Arneis acquires subtle and elegant aromas reminiscent of white flowers and fresh fruit.

More recently, Arneis was transferred also to the most friable and sandiest lands of the Langhe.

This movement gave origin to two DOC: the first one is located on the left side of the Tanaro river and is called Roero Arneis DOCG, the second takes the name of Langhe Arneis DOC.