The Piedmont region’s Damilano Winery: A taste of Italy

by: Brian Fry

The Piedmont region of Italy is nestled in the Northwest corner of the country just below the beautiful city of Torino. As I was planning my European trip itinerary, I noticed that Torino looked relatively close to Lyon, France, where I stayed as part of my visit to the Northern Rhone Valley.

I couldn’t pass up the chance to visit Piedmont since I was “in the neighborhood.” It turns out that there is direct train service between the two cities daily, so after a breathtaking ride through the Alps, I arrived in Torino in a little under five hours. The next morning, I traveled by car through the Italian countryside and into one of the world’s greatest wine regions. Historically, Piedmont has been overshadowed by the more famous Super Tuscan and Amarone wines, but that has changed in the last decade.

The picturesque drive brought us to the historic village of Farigliano, and my temporary headquarters: The Bricco Rosso Hotel. I enjoyed several outstanding winery visits during my time in Piedmont, highlighted by my trip to Damilano Winery.

Damilano’s history dates to the 1890s, when Giuseppe Borgnono (the current owners’ great-grandfather) began to grow grapes on his farm and made his own wine. The winery was passed on through the family, and in 1997, Giacomo Damilano and his children built a state-of-the-art facility on the outskirts of the village of La Morra.

Damilano represents much of what is great about Piedmont: a long, family-based tradition coupled with new investment in technology and hospitality. I toured the impressive new winery, which included all the modern bells and whistles, and then settled into one of their incredible tasting rooms to review their wine portfolio.

The tasting room is ultra-modern and impressive in its aesthetics. The slanted shelves along the walls hold thousands of bottles of great wines that sit at an angle. This is a little unnerving at first, as it appears the wines could easily roll off the shelves at any moment.

This method of storage and display was designed to represent the steep-angled hillsides where Piedmont’s famed vineyards are planted. It was simply one of the coolest environments for tasting wine that I have ever experienced.

Piedmont is known primarily for its famed Barolo wines, and Damilano is no exception. They bottle five different Barolos each year – each with a distinctive terroire and flavor profile. Piedmont wineries produce some other fantastic wines including Arneis, Dolcetto. Barbera and Barbaresco.

Here’s a look at some of my favorite wines from my visit to Damilano:

2013 Damilano Langhe Arneis DOC: Pale straw-yellow in color with a delicate, fresh and fruity bouquet. Dry and elegantly harmonic on the palate with citrus and tropical fruits

2014 Damilano Barbera D’Asti DOCG: Intense purple-red color with baked fruits and light spice on the nose. Flavors of currant, cherry and vanilla on the finish.

2013 Damilano Nebbiolo Marghe DOC: Ruby-red color with garnet reflections and delicate notes of violets and red fruits. Dry on the palate with refined tannins and a velvety, full body.

2012 Damilano “Lecinquevigne” Barolo DOCG: Intense bouquet of rose, leather, tobacco and violets. Ample falvors of black cherry and cassis with a soft, yet persistent finish.

Damilano wines will be featured in an upcoming local event at The Italian Marketplace in Niles, our Valley’s newest destination for Italian food and wine. The menu for the event will be unveiled in next week’s Drinks Blog on vindy.com.