Grape Guide
Nascetta
WhiteNascetta is a white variety of the Langhe hills in southern Piedmont, rescued from near disappearance in the 1990s and now concentrated around the village of Novello. It makes dry, semi-aromatic whites with real body, a honeyed, saline character and an unusual ability to age.
Key characteristics
- Native to the Langhe, with its heartland in the commune of Novello (Cuneo)
- Compact, cylindrical bunches with thick, waxy, golden-yellow skins
- Yields are erratic, and ripening time is described differently by different growers
- Total plantings are small, commonly put at around 40 hectares
- Varietal wine is permitted under Langhe DOC, with a stricter Novello subzone requiring 100% Nascetta
Typical flavors
Major regions
Novello (Langhe DOC, Nascetta del comune di Novello) · Monforte d'Alba · Barolo area, Piedmont · Trezzo Tinella · Langhe DOC, Piedmont
Also known as
Anascetta (Novello) · Nas-cëtta (Novello · Cuneo) · Anas-cëtta (trade name)
Nascetta is among the few Piedmontese whites with genuine structure. The wines are dry and medium to full in body, with a lightly perfumed nose of acacia flower, citrus and herbs, and a palate carried more by texture and a saline, faintly bitter finish than by overt fruit. Acidity is fresh but not sharp, which suits fermentation or ageing in neutral oak and, in some cellars, lees stirring.
The variety sits geographically in the middle of Barolo country, where the loamy, limestone-rich soils and persistent winds of Novello also shape the local Nebbiolo. Production is tiny, and most of it comes from a dozen or so small estates in a single commune. For trade buyers it is a distinctive local white that bridges the gap between Piedmont's lighter aperitif whites and the region's reds, and it can develop honeyed, waxy complexity after several years in bottle.
Nascetta is regarded as native to the Langhe. It appears in nineteenth century Piedmontese ampelographic writing as a grape used to make good wine, and it was once found between Alba and Mondovì, typically blended with Favorita (Vermentino) and Moscato Bianco. The dialect form Anascetta is the older name; the standardized spelling Nascetta is usually attributed to a nineteenth century writer who assumed a kinship with the Sardinian grape Nasco. That connection is not supported by modern genetic work, and Nascetta and Nasco are treated as separate varieties.
Microsatellite analysis of about twenty loci places Nascetta among the Piedmontese varieties, with some affinity to minor cultivars of the Saluzzese and Roero areas. Its parentage is unresolved. Popular accounts have proposed a mutation of Nebbiolo or a relationship with Vermentino or the Susa Valley's Grò blanc, but none of these has been established by published DNA evidence.
Phylloxera, the world wars and the vine's own irregular yields reduced it to a handful of old plantings near Novello. A bottle of 1986 Nascetta tasted in 1993 reportedly convinced the Elvio Cogno estate to seek out the remaining fruit, and the first commercial bottling followed in 1994, sold under the invented name Anas-Cëtta because the variety was not yet officially registered. It entered the Italian national register of grape varieties in 2001, and varietal wine was later authorized under Langhe DOC, with a Novello subzone created around 2010.
The bunch is medium to medium-large, cylindrical, usually with one wing, and compact. Berries are medium-sized, spherical to slightly elliptical, with a thick, waxy, yellow to golden skin. Leaves are medium-small and pentagonal to rounded. Official ampelographic descriptions rate productivity as medium to high and regular, but growers working with old vines in Novello report yields that swing sharply from year to year and describe the variety as difficult to manage. Accounts of ripening also disagree: some place it early to mid season, others compare it with late Nebbiolo, and recent vintage reports from Novello show harvests in the second half of September. Site and vintage evidently matter. The best plantings sit on the calcareous, loamy soils of the Novello hills, which are exposed to wind and cold winters. Total area is small, commonly cited at around 40 hectares across the Langhe, of which roughly 12 to 17 hectares lie within Novello itself.
Most Nascetta is made as a dry varietal white. Under Langhe Nascetta DOC the wine must contain at least 85% Nascetta and reach 11.5% alcohol. The Nascetta del comune di Novello subzone is stricter: 100% Nascetta grown in the commune, at least 12% alcohol and a minimum of five months of ageing. Colour is straw yellow with greenish reflections, and the aroma typically combines acacia, citrus, herbs and light spice, with honey emerging as the wine matures. Winemaking varies from stainless steel only to partial or full barrel fermentation, and producers differ on malolactic fermentation and lees work. Cooler vintages give a tauter, more mineral wine; warmer ones are broader and riper. A passito version of the Novello subzone is also provided for in the rules, with a minimum of ten months of ageing, though it is made in very small quantities. Good examples are capable of ageing for a decade or more, gaining beeswax and honeyed nuance.
Where it grows
Novello
The center of production, with about a dozen estates making wine under the Nascetta del comune di Novello subzone. Elvio Cogno, whose Anas-Cëtta was the first modern bottling, farms parcels in the Ravera cru, and Le Strette is another established producer.
Monforte d'Alba
A smaller secondary area of plantings next to Novello, within the wider Langhe DOC rather than the Novello subzone.
Trezzo Tinella
An outlying commune in the Langhe where scattered Nascetta plantings are recorded, far from the Novello core.
Langhe DOC (wider Langhe)
Varietal Langhe Nascetta may be made outside Novello, and producers such as Rivetto and La Tribuleira bottle it from vineyards beyond the village, with the minimum varietal content set at 85%.