Produttori di Carema

Carema DOC · Alpine Piedmont · Est. 1960

Slow Food Presidium Heroic Viticulture Historic Landscape 2024

The Cooperative

Ten Men Against Extinction

On November 30, 1960, ten winemakers in the mountain village of Carema made a decision that saved their wine culture. The vineyards had declined from 120 hectares at the turn of the century to fewer than 40. Post-war industrialization had lured young people from the backbreaking labor of these alpine terraces toward factory employment in nearby Turin and the Valle d'Aosta. Carema was dying.

The cooperative they founded. Cantina dei Produttori Nebbiolo di Carema, grew steadily. Twenty-nine members by 1967, when the winery building was constructed. Today, more than 100 families contribute grapes, most tending parcels of less than one hectare on the same dry-stone terraces their grandparents built. In 1984, a pivotal transition changed everything: members began delivering grapes rather than finished wine, giving the cooperative control of vinification for the first time and enabling consistent, quality-driven production from their diverse, scattered parcels.

The cooperative produces just two wines. There is no range of crus, no barrel selections released under individual grower names, no expansion into easier-to-farm territory. Only Carema, two expressions of the same ancient terroir, distinguished by time in the cellar.

1960

Founded

100+

Member Families

25 BC

Roman Viticultural Presence

2014

Slow Food Presidium

Slow Food Presidium Heroic Viticulture Topia Pergola Alpine Cooperative Historic Landscape 2024

The Terroir

Heroic Viticulture at Altitude

Carema is one of the purest examples of heroic viticulture in Italy. The terraced hillsides climb from 300 to 650 meters elevation, with slopes exceeding 30 percent at the steepest points. A standard flatland vineyard can be managed with one-quarter the labor. Here, every crate of harvested fruit, every ton of topsoil washed downslope by winter storms, every pruning cut, all accomplished by hand. No tractor fits on these walls.

The terraces themselves, called muraje, are dry-stone retaining walls that define the landscape. They were built in the early 19th century, though Roman viticultural presence along the ancient Via delle Gallie is documented to 25 BC. The walls require constant maintenance; winter erosion is the enemy, and the cooperative's elderly members spend as much time rebuilding stone as tending vine.

The soil is morainic in origin, filled with the glacial debris of retreating alpine glaciers. Approximately 80 percent sand with granite and schist, it drains extremely well and provides minimal nutrients. The vine stress this creates is a gift: low yields, concentrated aromatics, wines with genuine mineral character.

In 2014, the Slow Food Foundation awarded Carema Presidium status, recognizing not just wine quality but the preservation of an endangered agricultural landscape. In 2024, the Italian government elevated the Carema terraces to the National Register of Historic Rural Landscapes, placing them alongside the Cinque Terre, the Pantelleria capers, and the Valtellina sforzato vineyards as irreplaceable national heritage.

The Topia Pergola System

The training system at Carema is unlike any other in viticulture. Horizontal beams extend from truncated-cone stone pillars called pilun, a topia pergola framework designed for two purposes: maximum sun exposure on steep mountainside plots, and thermal regulation. The stone pillars absorb solar heat during the day and slowly release it overnight, moderating the temperature swings that would otherwise prevent full phenolic ripeness at this altitude. The architecture is centuries old. The effect is a microclimate that makes the impossible possible.

The Grape

Picotener. Alpine Nebbiolo

The grape grown at Carema is not the Nebbiolo of Barolo. Picotener, also called Picutener or Picotendro, is a local biotype that has adapted over centuries to high-altitude, cool-climate conditions. It is genetically distinct from the Lampia and Michet clones used in the Langhe. The differences are measurable and expressive: higher natural acidity, more delicate tannin structure, pronounced floral and mineral character.

Where Barolo Nebbiolo pushes toward dark cherry, tar, and roses, Picotener leans into bergamot, alpine herbs, field flowers, and crushed stone. The wines are lighter in body, a quality often mistaken for lack of concentration by tasters conditioned on Langhe Nebbiolo, but they carry extraordinary aromatic depth and a mineral salinity that is entirely their own. Picotener is found nowhere else in Italy at scale.

Grape	Nebbiolo Picotener (min. 85%; up to 15% other local varieties permitted by DOC)
Avg. Vine Age	50 years
Altitude	300–650 meters
Slopes	30%+ gradient
Soil	Morainic origin, ~80% sand, granite and schist
Training	Topia pergola on stone pilun pillars
Total DOC zone	~13–25 hectares (Municipality of Carema only)

Picotener vs. Langhe Nebbiolo

Genetically distinct from Lampia and Michet. Higher acidity. More delicate tannin. Pronounced floral and mineral character. Lighter in body, more aromatic. The alpine expression of Italy's greatest red grape.

DOC Appellation

Carema DOC, awarded 1967, among Piedmont's earliest protected designations. The production zone is restricted entirely to the Municipality of Carema, making it one of Italy's geographically smallest DOCs.

The Wines

Two Wines Only

The cooperative makes two wines and nothing else. Each is an expression of Carema's single terroir, distinguished by how long they spend in the cellar and which barrels are selected for extended aging.

Etichetta Nera

Carema Classico DOC

Aging	Minimum 24 months total; 12+ months in large oak or chestnut botti (15–50 hL)
Fermentation	Stainless steel and cement; 20–30 days with 12-day skin contact
Score	CellarTracker 92 (2019 vintage)
Drinking Window	2024–2032

View Wine Page

Etichetta Bianca

Carema Riserva DOC

Aging	Minimum 36 months total; best barrels selected from Classico pool at 24 months, held 12 additional months
Fermentation	Same as Classico, barrel selection determines which becomes Riserva
Score	Vinous 93 / Wine Enthusiast 93 (2019 vintage)
Drinking Window	2025–2035+

View Wine Page

Why This Wine Matters

This wine comes from a place that should not exist. Imagine maintaining a working vineyard on a 30-percent slope at 500 meters elevation, farming terraces built in the early 1800s using stone pillars that trace back to Roman military roads, with your bare hands, because no tractor can fit. That is Carema.

The Slow Food movement designated Carema a Presidium in 2014 because it was in danger of disappearing. The growers are elderly. The work is relentless. And yet the wine they make is extraordinary: delicate, aromatic, mineral, and alive in a way that few Nebbiolo wines can match.

The cooperative was founded in 1960 by ten men determined not to let their wine die. Over 100 families contribute grapes today. Every bottle is a vote for a landscape, a tradition, and a grape variety that the modern wine world nearly forgot. This is one of the most honest and historically significant wines in Italy.

For the Trade

Request Portfolio Information

Exclusive US importer. Produttori di Carema is not available through any other channel in America. Contact us for pricing, availability, and minimum order information.

Request Portfolio