Back 100 years ago Alto Piemonte was the place for wine in Piedmont and also the Pope’s favorite. Now, as climate change has made ripening less of a challenge in Alto Piemonte, more and more producers have started to expand into that territory, and it has drawn natives like Paolo de Marchi of Chianti’s Isole e Olena back to make wine on their home turf.  

Unlike in Tuscany, where wineries are frequently 600-700 years old or more, in Piedmont you’re old if it’s been 100 years. Scarpa is one of those that counts as ancient in Piedmont, founded by Antonio Scarpa in 1854 then sold to Mario Pesce in 1949. It was in the 1960s and early 1970s that Scarpa became a player by buying multiple properties and producing single-vineyard wines, which was not common in those days. Today, their wines celebrate their roots by leaning into the old-school style of the 1960s and 70s.

Call me silly but I always find staying in castles a bit exciting—not that I’m into hanging out over the ramparts, but there’s just something about it. It’s no different at the Castello di Perno except this small castle is poised on a ridge above the village of Monforte d’Alba, one of my favorites in Barolo. It’s an old castle, but the thing that is really interesting is that Giulio Einaudi, one of Italy’s most famous publishers, owned this up until 2012 when Giorgio Gitti purchased it and the estate. They still have Einaudi’s library, and it gave me goosebumps when I visited and walked over the creaking wooden floor and smelled the dusty old manuscripts—it made me feel like I was in a castle!