Cantine Garrone Prünent 2018

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

Prünent is the flagship of the local wine production, the backbone of our land. Prünent is an ancient type of Nebbiolo born in the mountain: indeed the first document that mentions it dates back to 1309. It is mostly produced with secular ungrafted grapes. This wine preserves the uniqueness and elegance that characterise the wine productions at this latitude.

About Cantine Garrone

Cantine Garrone is a small winery wedged into the Alps, with Switzerland 10km to the west and Lake Maggiore 30km to the east founded in 1920 thanks to the tenacity and great will of the Garrone family, originally from Monferrato but then united in marriage with the Modoni family from Ossola (precisely Oira di Crevoladossola, the northernmost village in Alto Piemonte).

Their great-grandfather, at that time a grape and wine broker, brought with him about 2000 litres of wine from the Domodossola area to the Antrona Valley, in order to quench the thirst of local workers. At the time there were about 3,000 people were engaged in the construction of the dams. And so began the community support of this excellent winery in Alto Piemonte.

Their land has been cultivated as far back as 1309, records show. While many producers work the Nebbiolo vines, Garrone has chosen to highlight the long-forgotten Prunent variety.

The story of the Garrone family is a heroic one, who managed to resist even the spread of phylloxera, thanks to their desire to enhance the territory and to carry forward the project of defending and recovering the landscape and cultural heritage, which has one of its greatest expressions in wine.

It wasn’t until 1994 that they became commercial, releasing just 36 bottles…They own two hectares of vineyards and also buy fruit from 60 close-knit, miniature scale farmers (the Valli Ossolane growers association) who, like the Garrone family, aim to preserve the winemaking culture of the valley.

In the Vineyard

Many of the parcels have vines aged over 100 years old, which are grown on the local traditional pergola training system called ‘toppia’. These guys are on track to become one of the finest producers in Italy.

Valli Ossolane gained its DOC title in 2009, in the period of 2009–2010 when several DOC titles were added to the already impressive wine portfolio of Piedmont, north-western Italy. It covers red and white wines from the Verbano–Cusio–Ossola province in the far northern reaches of Piedmont.

The Valli Ossolane is home to some of the most dramatic landscapes of any Piedmont vineyard area – more so than the Aosta Valley region 40 miles (65km) to the south-west, and on a par with the mountainous Valtellina, on the other side of lakes Maggiore and Como, where similar styles of fresh Nebbiolo-based red wine is produced.

In the Winery

During the spring that follows the harvest, the wine is put in a barrel for a year where the malolactic fermentation takes place. Then, it is bottled and left to stand at least a year before release.

Where in the World is Cantine Garrone?

Cantine Garrone is wedged into the Alps in the Valli Ossolane DOC, with Switzerland 10km to the west and Lake Maggiore 30km to the east.