VOGHERA
Piemonte, Italy
Luigi Voghera and his wife, Pinuccia, put down roots in the small town of Tetti in 1974. Here in the hills of Neive, at the epicenter of the Barbaresco appellation, their farm has grown over the ensuing half century to a respectable 22 hectares scattered throughout the Langhe. Sadly, Luigi passed on, but his son, Livio, has proven to be a great winemaker in his own right. The specialty, of course, is Nebbiolo, with holdings in the less common Cottà and Basarin Menzione, but Voghera's bottlings of Dolcetto, Barbera, and Arneis are no less compelling and represent truly head-turning value worthy of complete attention.
The vineyards are worked sustainably, and treatments are kept to an absolute minimum, only used to combat Flavescenza Dorata (or Flavescence dorée, the phytoplasma parasite that travels on insect vectors and destroys plant tissue: a true viticultural emergency in northern Italy). No weedkillers are used whatsoever, instead opting for cover crops ("green manure") as a means to enrich soils with nitrogen. Where possible, Voghera uses sexual confusion to discourage and mitigate vineyard pests as opposed to insecticide. All of the vineyards enjoy ideal south-southwest facing exposure on Neive's signature marly, calcareous, and sandy soils.
When it comes to wine production, two factors distinguish the house style: long macerations for the Nebbiolo and the use of unique French oak barrels from the Allier Forest in central France, noted for its uniquely tight grains. All the wines are fermented in stainless steel tanks for purity of fruit, then are aged further in steel or oak depending on the wine. The Nebbiolo bottlings reflect their handling and elevage: sturdy and complex with significant tactile intrigue but freshness to balance. They will see up to twenty days of maceration and a portion of the wine is made using a submerged cap for as many as fifty days during fermentation to extract phenolic compounds.
Despite Livio's emphasis on the vessel, the wines do not show a preponderance of wood character by any means. Rather, the winery only keeps a few barrique, and the effect is one of texture far more than flavor: fine, dusty, old-school tannins. As a counterpoint to the fuller-bodied reds, both the Dolcetto and Arneis only see stainless steel and are all the lither and more energetic for it. Dolcetto undergoes a mere four-day maceration - the perfect wine to serve at cellar temp on any night whilst waiting for the Barbaresco to age.
Wines