Produttori del Carema

A cooperative founded in 1960, the Produttori del Carema has grown from 12 to 81 producers, a testament to their immense success in creating high quality wines in the Carema region of North-West Piemonte, a village that lies in a sun-drenched valley marking the border between Piemonte and the Aosta Valley. Named one of Italy’s first DOC wines in 1967 – perhaps in part thanks to a distinguished history that’s seen Carema’s selection as the location of choice for Ducal, Regal and Papal banquets since the 1500s – it’s an area of unique climate and viticultural practice, producing Nebbiolo-based wines with a personality beautifully reflective of its heritage.

Carema’s countryside is one of immense beauty. Its extreme slopes are patchworked with stone and lime pillars that trellis the Nebbiolo vines in this region, storing the heat of the day for release in the night – providing an unforgettable landscape, as well as a challenge for modern machinery. While its grapes are the same variety as those used in the more well-known Barolo and Barbaresco regions to the south, its climate – which historically made it difficult for the grapes to fully ripen - facilitates the creation of a wine distinct in personality. Perhaps as a reflection of its hometown’s legacy, Produttori del Carema is an aristocratic wine. It is long-lived, and brimming with sour cherries, raspberries, red roses and tar. Although not dissimilar to Barolo and Barbaresco up to this point, their character distinguishes itself in a livelier acidity, tight structure and beautiful refinement, as well as in its ability to introduce grapes other than Nebbiolo, which the former two wines are unable to do. Some Carema contains small contributions of local varieties, including Croatina or Uva Rara, blended with at least 85% Nebbiolo. Hauntingly beautiful and incredibly complex, Produttori del Carema Classico and Riserva offer sweet tobacco, alpine herbs and mint that are both accessible young and sing of their future potential.

Despite its small size, Carema produces wines with a big voice – powerful red wines recognised over the centuries: “perfect for princes and lords” and “strong and likeable as the sun and the stone”.