Cristiano Garella is on a Mission to Spread the Word of Alto Piemonte’s Volcanic History

Italy is rich with terroir, but none has captured the palates of wine lovers quite the same way as those surrounding volcanos. Volcanic soils create distinct wine but also capture the imagination: glowing rivers of lava flowing down Mt. Etna or the tragic history of Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius in Campania. Then there is the lesser-known Alto Piemonte, a collection of small wine appellations in the shadow of the Alps. This tiny region has only 1,500 acres of vines planted across 10 appellations with Nebbiolo as its star. Over the past decade, there has been one champion telling its story, Cristiano Garella, whose passion, vitality and tireless work have helped reignite the region’s profile.

To best understand the region, Garella starts at the beginning: “Alto Piemonte was the site of a super-volcano, 25 miles in diameter, that erupted 300 million years ago just as the Alps were forming—creating a geological mishmash, making it a Disneyland for geologists.”

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Whereas Etna and Vesuvius are both active, the ancient soils of the Alto Piemonte are different. Garella continues, “On Etna or Campania you can still smell the volcano. You can feel the volcanic expression, but in Alto Piemonte the volcanic sensation is more a combination of saltiness, acidity and tannin shown distinctly in the wines of Boca, Bramaterra and Gattinara. The older soils grow wines with a darker fruit expression and more tannins, while those with mainly marine sediment produce wines that are lighter with a fruity nose, detailing how specific the terroir is.”

Mombarone Monte Barone in the Piedmont region of Italy, the Biellese and Canavese alps – Image Courtesy of GettyImages / IStockPhoto

Today, Garella is a partner in two wineries, Le Pianelle and Colombera & Garella, and a consultant for 18 other estates in the region, and he’s not even 40. His passion began at age 12 when his parents, who were not in the wine business, enlisted an 88-year-old named Giovanni “Giouan” Clerico, who had been tending vines and making wines for 70 years to give their son “something to do” after school. This generational odd couple quickly formed a rapport. As Garella recalls, “Giouan immediately taught me respect of place. He said I needed to respect every single vine and to understand that our weight in the world is small and to not waste time. Just work hard.” His experience with Giouan is his foundation. “He taught me how to do everything from cut the grass to vinify the wine in the most rustic and traditional of manners,” recalls Garella. Over the next five years Giouan and Cristano worked every season, with Cristano absorbing as much as he could. Sadly, in 2003 Giouan passed away at age 93, but Garella’s path was clear.

I needed to respect every single vine and to understand that our weight in the world is small and to not waste time.

Cristiano Garella

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Garella headed south to study winemaking at the Università di Torino at Alba and learned “how to make good wines, technically,” but he says that being in Barolo, just as it was becoming famous, showed him that life “is a cross of being a little lucky and every day trying to learn something new. I was luckier than others, as I understand what I wanted to do and the hint of Alto Piemonte was there like a seed in front of me.” He headed back home and began work at the historic Tenute Sella. After a few years, he learned that consulting would give him the freedom to explore the complexity that was under his feet. “As you walk a vineyard it may have 100% volcanic soil, then in 50 feet one that has 100% marine soils, then in another 50 feet a mix. This diversity is what makes our land great,” affirms Garella.

“Making wine, restoring vineyards, rebuilding a wine area, takes generations,” he warns. “Many people want to produce wine quickly and are focusing on just the labels instead of the real work.” But for those ready to work, Cristiano is there to welcome and help them. He believes the future of Alto Piemonte is to “focus the appellations on Nebbiolo so it would be easier to express the differences of the soils and single municipalities. I think it would be a big step for Alto Piemonte.”

This article originally appeared in the Winter 2024 issue of Wine Enthusiast magazine. Click here to subscribe today!

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