Short Summary

With the calcareous Roero sands plastered onto its sharply pointed hillsides that crest like swells at Portugal’s Nazaré, it’s almost unimaginable that vines could last more than a single season bolted into such a vertigo-inducing relief. Even more unimaginable is how people could work some of these cliff-like sites without gear to root them to the slope, let alone consider a tractor. And yet, it’s in the sands of Santo Stefano Roero where Alberto Oggero continues his grandfather’s work. Here, these organically farmed Nebbiolos naturally shed weight, but under Alberto’s soft touch they shine differently than his Roerini neighbors and even brighter than the most celebrated kin across the Tanaro River. Miraculously, some 80-year-old vines (Roero Anime) still hold their footing, while most between 20 and 30 years old sit between 280 and 320 meters, with exposures drifting from south to southwest. Pressed clean, fermented in steel, then left in concrete on its fine lees through the winter before a quiet spring assemblage, the Arneis comes from two extremely steep organic parcels made of pure sand. A worthy contender for top position among Barolo and Barbaresco wines made in the most elegant way, all the Nebbiolo wines are rendered from destemmed grapes and vinified in concrete with a submerged cap, then aged between large cask, tonneaux, and concrete.