The production area and the vineyard

Alta Langa PDO originates in 149 villages on the hills of the provinces of Asti, Alessandria and Cuneo on the right bank of the River Tanaro in the southern Piedmont region.

Cultivating Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes requires moderately fertile calcareous clay and marl soils. The result of a sedimentation process occurred on the seabed (or in lagoons) within the so-called Tertiary Piedmont Basin, which spanned the entire south-western Piedmont region for approximately 30 million years and left it about 2.5 million years ago. The accumulation of sediments has given rise to an alternation of stratifications: from the fine ones composed mainly of silt and clay have given rise to the soft grey-blue rocks known as marls; those composed of sand, if they have not cemented, have retained the name of sands, while if they have undergone compaction they have been transformed into arenites, the well-known “Langa Stone”. A territory crossed by the Tanaro, Belbo, Bormida and Orba rivers that define its valleys.

The vineyards must be located in the hills, at a minimum altitude of 250 metres above sea level, so the use of grapes grown in damp, valley-floor vineyards is strictly forbidden.

Production regulations state that every vineyard must contain at least 4,000 vines per hectare. The vines are trained using the low espalier system, and the pruning techniques adopted are Guyot and spurred cordon, at a maximum height from the ground of 90 cm. The maximum grape yield per hectare is 11,000 kg, while the yield from each pressing phase must be less than 65%.

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