Langhe DOC The Alba Hills' Flexible Label, from Nebbiolo to Chardonnay

Same grape, same hills, different rulebook. Barolo comes from eleven towns and ages 38 months before release. Langhe Nebbiolo covers the wider hill zone, with no long ageing rule. So it drinks young and fragrant, at a third of the price, and often from the same cellar.

Young vines, declassified parcels and cash flow. The DOC lets a Barolo house sell approachable Nebbiolo three years earlier. Vietti's Perbacco and Renato Ratti's Ochetti are the textbook examples.

In red: Nebbiolo, Barbera, Dolcetto and Freisa. In white: Arneis, Chardonnay, Nascetta and Riesling. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Nero and Favorita are also admitted. A red named after one grape needs 85 percent of it, a white only 60.

Both. The Langhe are the hills south and east of Alba, a UNESCO World Heritage landscape since 2014. Langhe DOC is the denomination that lets the whole territory bottle under one name.

Regional policy. Piedmont chose to classify everything under DOC and DOCG, rather than adopt the IGT tier. Langhe DOC does the job an IGT does elsewhere. That is why its rules are the loosest in the Alba system.