Giuliano Noè, three questions about Nizza DOCG

They call him ‘Barberologo.’ Not only because he is convinced that Barbera is the best wine in the world, but because when looking at the story of the last forty years of this ‘nectar’, he is always at the front line. 

Giuliano Noè

He is Giuliano Noè, born in Monforte d’Alba in 1935, enologist and consultant to some of the most important wineries in Italy. Above all, he is immensely passionate about is his adopted ‘land’, the Monferrato, which warmly welcomed him into the world of wine in 1956 when he was learning the ropes at a winery in Canelli. Since then, Noè and Barbera have walked hand in hand, bravely facing the obstacles and hard times in its history, like when it was a wine that was widely consumed but hardly appreciated, or even worse during the ethanol scandal that broke with a bottle of Barbera. Through it all Noè has remained the leading protagonist in promoting this wine and saw it through its ‘rebirth’ in the 1980’s. Speaking of his devotion to the ‘Lady in Red,’ Noè credits that his “fortune has been to collaborate with intelligent people and important wineries in the moment when Barbera was finally emerging from the shadows of diver bars to become one of the most important ambassadors for Piedmont in the world.”

Of ‘Barberologo’s’ greatest challenges, Nizza cannot be overlooked. This ‘super Barbera’ was finally recognized as its own appellation in 2014 after years of hard-won battles, many of which Noè has had a hand in winning, and today is a DOCG that grows in both numbers and quality. 

Giuliano Noè, why have you, along with the Associazione Produttori del Nizza continued to believe in this project?
If Barbera is the best wine in the world, Nizza is its crowning jewel. It all began in 2000 when legislation allowed for subzones to be indicated independently by their names. From there, by listening to older winemakers and incessantly studying the qualities of the grapes and the soils, we came to the understanding that we had to restrict the name of Barbera d’Asti to a specific geographic area, to Nizza. What was even more difficult was making it understood that this was a ‘special’ Barbera, from an even more renown geographic area. 

La Court Estate

How have you increased consumer perception to that of prestige for this wine?
Much credit is due to Michele Chiarlo, who gladly took on the role as first president of the Associazione Produttori and worked hard to place Barbera d’Asti Nizza in the best restaurants in the world. It took courage at the time as it there was a major risk in complicating the consumers’ already limited capacity of connecting the wine to the hills where it came from. But what was more effective, and took a lot of work, was convincing the producers of the prestige of Nizza. At the time we were constantly organizing blind tastings, meetings and debates about Nizza and its ability ‘to be different.’ Nizza is a wine born for the future, with the clear objective of making it known amongst the important red wines of Italy and the world. This is a project have built over the years, without pause. 

How did you decide on the name of the Appellation?
This is a curious anecdote. When we requested the DOCG appellation, there was a small problem. The name “Nizza” did not exist. Or rather, it should have been “Nizza Monferrato” as other wines such as Barolo and Barbaresco refer to their regions of provenance. However, “Monferrato” was already a widely used epitaph on many wines and we wanted to differentiate ourselves. Here too, it was Michele Chiarlo that unfurled the Gordian knot; “Nizza” was the name of the main stream that flows through the area. Suddenly we had a short, appealing name from an unmovable geographic reference that was easy to remember. Better still, since it didn’t exist beforehand, there was ample space to tell the stories of the land, wine and producers.