2017 Villa Guelpa Sizzano Piedmont 750 ml

As lunch spilled into dinner, what was supposed to be a brief stop at Villa Guelpa became a sprawling, transformative encounter with one of the Alto Piemonte region’s top young talents. 

Daniele Dinoia makes a minuscule amount of wine in the northern foothills, holding less than ten acres under vine. But what the former winemaker for the renowned Nervi winery produces, entirely by hand from his bucolic “High Piedmont” home, could move mountains. 

We told Daniele we’d buy everything he’d sell us, starting with this effusive Sizzano. Ever since, we’ve been pressing his bottles into friends’ hands at every chance, waiting for the moment we could offer it more broadly to Wine Access members. We were lucky to get a few dozen cases.

The Sizzano is made from a base of 70% Nebbiolo that is every bit as enchanting as fruit grown 90 miles south in Barolo. The Nebbiolo is blended according to Sizzano custom with the relatively obscure Vespolina and Uva Rara varieties, making the wine more accessible with only a few years of age. 

This is one of the most subtly sophisticated and yet drinkable bottles we’ve seen come out of Alto Piemonte (at any price, but especially at this price) during the region’s current renaissance. 

Wine Enthusiast gave this “fragrant and focused” Editors’ Choice a whopping 95 points—virtually unheard of for a Piedmont wine at this price. Finely etched with the region’s signature mouthwatering acidity, with just enough lushness through the mid-palate to soften the wine into completion, it also earned the critic’s ultimate term of praise: “delicious.” 

Its rarity alone makes this wine a must-buy for Nebbiolo fans, or anyone else quick enough on the draw to get some before it’s gone. With so little on hand, we don’t expect this offer to survive the week. 

Very traditionally made, fermented in concrete tanks and aged in old Slavonian oak casks for subtler flavors and finer, softer tannins, this wine feels like a journey into a purer past. Lean red fruits and savory spices are laced over a welterweight frame. 

The summer’s cool nights kept the acidity up, balancing a ripeness that was once uncommon in the high Piedmont but that has, over the past two decades, become increasingly prevalent. That warming trend has been a boon for the region. The Sizzano is one full step shy of austere, and the wine’s footwork along that boundary becomes part of the fun as the bottle develops, its fruit showing richer and sweeter glass by glass.

A few years ago, we attended a master class on the Alto Piemonte with the renowned Italian wine expert and raconteur Walter Speller, who hailed the region’s wines as “an incredible alternative to Burgundy.” He indicated the two regions’ shared hallmarks: supreme elegance and consistently refined tannins. We couldn’t agree more, and we think this Sizzano represents one of the region’s truly shining examples. 

Villa Guelpa is the definition of a small, artisan producer. The sort of winery you might stumble upon after turning whimsically off the highway just to see where the side road takes you. You would be rewarded mightily for your adventurous spirit. The owners, husband-and-wife team Daniele and Sonia, run an impossibly charming estate.

On the wooded outskirts of Lessona, the property’s manor house doubles as the family home and the inn for their agriturismo. It overlooks the pristine waters of the Torrente Strona, a stream that feeds the river Sesia, which divides Alto Piemonte into its two overarching appellations. 

As we approached the soaring, canary yellow house, a raft of squat, white ducks waddled past, headed for the water. We stopped to watch, already drunk on the cheeriness of the place. The doors swung open and Sonia, the proprietress, greeted us with kisses before whisking us into the airy parlor and handing us each a chinotto-garnished spritzer. There was no doubt, we had arrived. 

It’s no wonder Daniele and Sonia decided to take a chance on this place. And their timing was perfect. World-weary wine lovers seeking great Nebbiolo beyond Barolo and Barbaresco have recently rediscovered the immense pleasures of the region, considered the pinnacle of Piedmont winemaking for most of the 19th century, only to be brought low by pestilence, war, and industrialization throughout the 20th. Now it’s bouncing back, quite possibly better than ever.

Before settling down at the Villa, Daniele was the winemaker at Nervi, the region’s most famous and respected producer. He now tends his few acres with a level of attention to the land and tradition in the cellar that we’ve only really seen in wines that are today’s household names. Here’s hoping his production continues to grow. We could all use a little more Villa Guelpa in our lives.