By Jamie Knee
You might not know Roero yet, but if you love Nebbiolo from Barolo or Barbaresco, with perfume and noble tannins, you should. I just returned from Piemonte’s Roero wine region, where this same grape produces red wines of grace and immediate pleasure, and where Arneis, its white counterpart, shines with luminous brightness.
Roero sits just north of Alba, across the Tanaro River, part of the UNESCO-designated Langhe-Roero-Monferrato landscape. While Barolo and Barbaresco are steep, dramatic, and often structured for long aging, Roero’s terroir tells a different story. Its soils are younger and sandier, its climate semi-arid, and its wines built for finesse, freshness, and approachability without sacrificing character.
Roero Terroir: Sand, Sunlight and Elegance
Roero’s soils — sandy layers mixed with limestone, clay, and calcareous sandstone — are loose, well-drained, and warm quickly in the sun. This helps Nebbiolo and Arneis ripen fully while retaining minerality and aromatic nuance.
The climate leans semi-arid, with warm days, cooler nights, and less rainfall than other Piemonte zones. These conditions preserve clarity, acidity, and floral lift, shaping wines that express terroir with transparency and grace.
Roero Wines: Nebbiolo and Arneis, Two Sides of the Same Heritage
Nebbiolo, known globally for Barolo and Barbaresco, reveals a different personality in Roero. Here, it still carries rose and cherry aromas, structure, and aging potential, but with:
- softer tannins
- fresher fruit
- more immediate drinkability
Its white counterpart, Arneis, delivers brightness and texture: citrus peel, pear, and stone fruit as it ages, always with minerality and refreshing crispness. Together, these wines capture Roero’s balance of nobility and approachability.
Legacy and Innovation: Producers Defining Roero
Roero stands apart not only for geology and climate, but also for its blend of heritage and experimentation.
Malabaila di Canale
A winery rooted in 1362, where centuries of tradition meet modern cellar practices and sustainable viticulture.
Tibaldi
Run by sisters Monica and Daniela Tibaldi, who work organically, farm by hand, and bring genuine contemporary spirit to Roero’s future.
Stefano Occhetti
Returned home in 2019 and is revitalizing neglected vineyards using regenerative farming, natural yeasts, and carbonic experimentation — all revealing Monteu Roero’s sandy soils with vivid clarity.
The Taste of Place: Food, Farming and Culture
In Roero, wine is one piece of a broader agricultural fabric. I experienced the region through food, farming, and the people who shape it every day.
- Azienda Agricola Aloi Luca — Truffle hunting with Buddy, a truffle-sniffing dog, followed by dinner layered in black truffles over fresh pasta.
- Azienda Agricola Juppi — Orchards of Madernassa pears, apricots and hazelnuts perfumed the air while we explored groves and grottos.
- Fratelli Pertusio “I Pastori del Roero” — Goat farming, fresh robiola cheeses, and tasting Nebbiolo and Arneis alongside warm, living cheeses.
- Mieli Roche — Beekeeping and raw floral honey tastings, used in desserts, dressings or simply eaten by the spoonful.
This region doesn’t merely pair food with wine; it integrates them into its identity.
Agriculture as Identity
Hazelnuts, especially the PGI “Tonda Gentile Trilobata” variety (famous for its role in gianduia and the roots of Nutella), orchards, dairy, truffles, and honey are not side notes — they shape how the land is farmed and how the wines taste. In Roero, winemakers, farmers, shepherds and beekeepers contribute equally to terroir. The landscape is agricultural, symbiotic, and deeply human.
Roero: A Wine You Feel, Not Just Taste
If you haven’t visited or tasted wines from Roero, you are missing a region where power meets elegance. Nebbiolo offers perfume and structure without austerity; Arneis offers brightness, minerality and lift. Together they demonstrate that terroir is not simply soil — it is the sound of goats, the scent of truffle, the crunch of hazelnuts, the breath of wind over orchards.
Roero isn’t a place where you just drink wine. It’s a place where you feel it.
https://www.montecitojournal.net/2025/10/07/roero-revealed-piemontes-nebbiolo-gem-you-need-to-know/
