Cascina Val Del Prete is a leading grower in Roero – a small DOCG wine district in the hills of Piemonte, 10 miles north of Alba – recognized for a commitment to natural farming and for traditional work in the cellar. The estate takes its name  ('Valley of the Priest') from the exiled Bishop of Asti who lived there in 1850; over a century later, in 1977, Bartolomeo Roagna and his wife Carolina bought the farm 'Val del Prete' where they had worked as sharecroppers. The first thing they did was replace grain and fruit with vines, planted on south facing slopes in a splendid natural amphitheater. Their son, Mario, and his son, Giovnani, now take care of the vineyards and are emblematic of the rising star that is Roero. The philosophy is to plant only autochthonous grape varieties (Arneis, Barbera, and Nebbiolo) and to let the characteristics of the terroir speak through the wine. Farming is done biodynamically and the past few years have been spent converting to organic farming. Fermentation in the cellars is spontaneous with indigenous yeasts.

Although lesser known than its sister regions of Barolo and Barbaresco, Roero is a noble terroir with a long history of acclaim. The land is not a viticulture mono-culture as Barolo is – Roero is home to much other agricultural activity, creating a more complete farming ecosystem that is more aligned to, say, Sonoma as opposed to Napa (no doubt part of the reason Roero was somewhat forgotten). And although Roero can claim to be the indigenous and spiritual home of the white grape Arneis, Nebbiolo is by far the most important grape of the region. The sandy soil of the Roero hills yields an intense red wine that differs from the other great Piedmontese wines in that it quickly attains good balance while the others require aging; it is more horizontally expansive compared to the more vertical nature of Barbaresco and Barolo. Where Barolo is more about tar and rose, these wines combine deep cherry, rose, and chinato spice – truly beautiful and aromatically vibrant wines with a touch of exoticism. Make no mistake: these Nebbiolo based wines showcase the varietal in all its triumphant glory