Alta Langa

The grapes are Pinot Nero and Chardonnay, which must make up at least nine tenths of the blend, grown on calcareous, clay-rich marls and never on damp valley floors. They are picked by hand into small perforated crates and pressed gently in stages, each fraction of juice kept apart.

The wine may be white or rosé. Every Alta Langa spends at least 30 months from the start of its second fermentation on the lees before release, and a Riserva at least 36. The name became a DOC in 2002 and a DOCG in 2011, but the rules point to a much longer local habit of ageing sparkling wine on its lees to see how it develops.