Notes from North Berkeley Imports:

"Sitting down to dinner one evening with the Mazzoni family, we asked Ghemme winemaker Tiziano Mazzoni whether he often visited the Barolo region. “Well, yes. It’s good for motorcycle riding.”

Part rebel, part natural talent, all passion—this winemaking family from Ghemme, located less than 100 miles as the crow flies from the heart of Barolo, is now the standard bearer for both quality and tradition in this northern Piedmontese wine region.

The Mazzoni family has a long history in Ghemme, yet winemaking as a profession in recent generations hasn’t always been practical. Tiziano’s father in the early 1960s left behind the life of a farmer to work in a factory, as many other Italians did at the time during the north’s economic boom.

Yet wine remained a vital part of the family’s heritage, a connection that for Tiziano, would later become a call he simply couldn’t ignore.

In many trips down to Barolo via motorbike, Tiziano explored the Langhe and the flavors and textures of Nebbiolo. And with time, he decided to return to his roots and explore Nebbiolo on his home soils.

In 1999, he purchased three acres of vineyard in Ghemme, a small portion of which was planted in the late 1960s—a symbolic bridge, in a sense, connecting his family’s leaving the land to his return to it. Today Tiziano farms a total of 11 acres in Ghemme, with a focus on Nebbiolo and Vespolina, a native red grape with lively red fruit and floral aromas.

There’s no question that Tiziano and his wines set a new standard for Ghemme, a region that was named a DOCG in 1997. With just under 200 acres total, this northern appellation is certainly small!

What you’ll find in Ghemme—and above all with Mazzoni—is Nebbiolo both elegant and powerful, an emphasis on red fruits and roses, and tannins that are supple and fine-grained."