Acqui Terme is a delightful historical town in the province of Alessandria in the Piemont region in Italy. Wine lovers, in particular, will find much more here than the famous thermal spas that promote health and well-being. All around the town, a wine is grown and produced that promises quality and sensual delights. Its name is Brachetto (dÂ’Acqui).

The province of Alessandria is extensive in area, and includes five different wine-growing regions: Acquese, Ovadese, Gaviese, Tortonese and Casalese. The names are derived from the various towns, which are located in the most easterly part of the hills in southern Piedmont, stretching from the Langhe up to the vicinity of Tortona. Alessandria produces an impressive number of quite different high-quality wines, and is thus an important region in terms of viticultural biodiversity. We have already reported on the Timorasso wine from the Tortonese region. Today we will be looking at the Brachetto wine from the Acquese area.

A grape variety with a career

The name Brachetto may not be used outside of a DOC area. The small but vociferous lobby for Brachetto d’Acqui has ensured that this is so. That is unusual, it may even be a unique case, as Brachetto is not a geographical name, but the name of a grape variety and therefore, in the general understanding, not patentable. If anybody were to approach the anti-trust authorities on this matter, one could expect some unpleasant discussions, which would probably do the name of this aromatic DOCG wine more harm than good. So the solution is found „alla italiana“: live and let live – and everybody lives happily ever after.

Vom Namen zur Qualität

Brachetto grapes (Photo Massimiliano Navarria, Archiv Alexala)

„Who may use the name Brachetto – that is a never-ending topic of discussion“, says Maurizio Gily, agronomist and Slow Food consultant based in the Piemont area. In fact, to start off with, the confusion was even greater. Grape experts identified at least four different varieties at four different locations, all known locally as Brachetto. As one can hardly run a successful marketing campaign under these circumstances, the wine producers decided to use the name only for the best of the Brachetto variants, the one that was also most important in commercial terms, and this became Brachetto d’Acqui. Anybody producing Brachetto del Roero, which is actually no less interesting, was left standing in the rain, and had to change the name. As a result, many producers changed to producing table wines, which were given tongue-in-cheek names such as Birbet – Piemontese for rascal or scoundrel.

A further storm in a teacup was caused by the similarity in names between the Brachetto d’Acqui, subject to the stricter production rules of the DOCG classification, and the Piemonte Brachetto, which is of DOC quality, and is made in accordance with the less restrictive stipulations applying there. In the end, the system of the quality pyramid was coded. A recent attempt to unify both designations under the term Brachetto d’Acqui was not successful. This was to be expected, as experience has shown that it is almost never possible to expand a production area with a highly regarded designation of origin. Be it in Italy or in France, there are very few wine producers established in the area who are prepared to share their cake, or, as they say in Italy: allungare il brodo – to stretch the soup.

Typical glass for spumante or frizzante versions of Brachetto (Photo Konsortium Brachetto d'Acqui)

Some producers were keen to have the „Passito“ and „Secco“ variants included in the DOC Piemonte, but it appears that the majority of those in the industry is opposed to this idea. However, there are three arguments in favour of this solution. On the one hand, both the dry and the passito versions have a longer tradition than do the sweet spumante and frizzante versions. Secondly, there is still a lot of potential for improvement to turn the secco and passito versions into really excellent wines, although this would mean drawing some good-quality grapes away from frizzante production. „We are certain this would upgrade the image of the existing DOC“, says Domenico Botto, passionate winemaker from the Acquese region, he is the third generation of his family to run the Cantina Sant’Ubaldo estate. Third and not least, these would then be „farmer’s wines“ or artisanal wines, that could be produced by all. It is true that considerably more work would be involved, particularly for the passito versions, but the investments in technology would remain within bounds – in contrast to the sparkling versions. The production of both dry and passito versions demands high-quality grapes, and therefore more sophisticated viticulture than in the case of “industrial” Brachetto, where this factor is less critical, although never unimportant. Regardless of what developments the future may bring, wine lovers and gourmets of the world should know this much: genuine Brachetto is the version with the „tappo raso“, or smooth cork; in contrast to the more popular, anaemic and more short-lived Spumante.

Triumph in diversity

"Bric e Brac" - Brachetto secco from Sant'Ubaldo (Photo Katrin Walter)

Sweet Brachetto wines, too, find their audience. Quite a number of serious producers provide great pleasure and enjoyment to their customers with the liquid bubbling away in the sparkling wine glass. Pleasant, frothy, bubbly, aromatic and simply happy, thus Brachetto dÂ’Acqui is made from the aromatic grape variety of the same name. The secret of its fruity character lies in its fermentation in stainless steel tanks at controlled temperatures, which preserves the primary aromas. Fermentation is not left to run its full course, it is interrupted at an alcohol content of 5 or 6 percent by volume, in order to maintain a pleasant ratio of acidity to residual sugar. The wine may only be classified as DOCG quality if it has a minimum potential alcohol content of 11,5% by volume, of which 5% by volume must have been fermented.

There are many occasions for enjoying this style of wine. As a sparkling wine or spumante, well chilled, it is suitable as an aperitif with savoury snacks. In combination with fruit juices, refreshing and thirst-quenching long drinks may be made. It has its place in combination with desserts, too. It goes really well with fruit that is not excessively tart or acidic, surprisingly well if one can enhance the wineÂ’s strawberry and raspberry flavours. It can even be paired with dried fruit such as figs, and with walnuts, hazel nuts, almonds or pistachioes. Traditionally the wine goes well with desserts at the end of a meal, or with afternoon tea, together with pasticceria secca (dry biscuits and pastry) or cakes such as panettone and short-crust pastry.

Between legend and pleasure

Brachetto has had a variable history. It rises like a meteor several times over the course of the centuries. It was a special treat in ancient Roman times, when several writers described the customs of the Gallia Cisalpina, describing the sweet and aromatic „vinum acquense“, the wine from the region of Acqui, highly regarded by the Patricians. It is thought that these reports refer to the passito version, a wine to which astonishing aphrodisiac properties are ascribed. Both Julius Caesar and later Marc Anthony presented Cleopatra with several gourds of this wine. The empress then had her lovers drink the wine, in order to unleash their passion, or so legend has it.

Whether that historical „vinum acquense“ can really be regarded as the predecessor of modern Brachetto may be open to some doubt, as nothing is heard again of this wine in historical documents for the next 1800 years.

A Renaissance in the 19th century was of short duration, as ultra-dry white wines became popular shortly thereafter. Brachetto ended up being blended into other red wines, and prior to its elevation to DOC status in 1969 was the classical rustic red sparkling wine enjoyed at the end of a meal with Ciambelle (round biscuits), in the home-cooking style. Ever since it has been classified as DOCG, it has been produced mainly in perlé and sparkling styles: light ruby to rosé in colour, with a bouquet of roses, violets, geraniums, peach blossoms, strawberries, raspberries and musk.

In the years following the higher classification, Brachetto established itself as a typical ladies’ wine. Wine producer Botto recounts:„In middle class and rural circles in Piemont it is considered to be good style to offer some of this wine, with its low alcohol content, to ladies on a humid Sunday afternoon in summer.

Bubbly from within and without

The "Edicola della Fontana della Bollente" fountain in the centre of Acqui Terme has water from the thermal spa(Photo Michael Zerban, COD Düsseldorf)

Acqui Terme, a town of more than 20.000 inhabitants in the south of the province of Alessandria, has always been a place of sensual delights, and is therefore eminently suited to lend its name to this DOCG: the Romans already regarded the „acquae statiellae“ as a sparkling external delight, complemented by the lively Brachetto from within. A tradition that is worth preserving. To achieve this, the consortium for the protection of Brachetto d’Acqui was founded in Acqui Terme in 1992, with 16 producers, 17 co-operatives and 28 bottling plants as members. DOCG status, and with it an enhanced commercial value, were granted four years later. Today the production region includes 26 communes in the provinces of Alessandria and Asti. The vineyard area totals 1.300 hectares, from which some 900 grape growers produce 6 million bottles of Brachetto each year, in two versions: more frequently with a smooth cork, either as a perlé frizzante or as a spumante made by the tank method with mushroom corks. In addition a significant share of the lighter sweet wines of Italy is produced in the area around Acqui and Asti, also known as the „region of the aromatics“: Moscato d’Asti, Moscato d’Asti Spumante, Brachetto d’Acqui, Brachetto d’Acqui Spumante, Piemonte DOC Brachetto, Piemonte DOC Brachetto Spumante.

--- no regulations stipulated
*1 the following may generally be stated on the label of a Vino da Tavola (VdT): batch number; the designation „Vino da Tavola“; contents expressed in hl, l, cl or ml; information on the bottler; place where it was bottled; place where the wine was produced, if this differs from the bottling site; alcohol content; if carbon dioxide has been added to the wine artificially, this must be stated on the label. You will find these wines on the Wein-Plus site if the producer has stated the grape variety on the data sheet when submitting the wine for tasting, simply search for the variety „Brachetto“.

Taste is subject to change over time

The achievement of DOCG status has not led to stagnation among producers. They are busy developing Brachetto further, for instance by again producing dry wines, dry as with Dolcetto, too. It is recommended that this style should only be drunk when it has been matured in bottle for two or three years. The wine is initially, in its youth, dominated by acidity, it is highly aromatic and has aromas of elderberry, almond blossoms and forest strawberries, this then develops to elderberry jelly, blackcurrants, small dark whole fruit marinated in alcohol, nutmeg and wild oregano; the tannins turn to velvet. Thus one ends up with a wine that is almost too precious to be enjoyed only with food.

Only very small quantities of these dry Brachetto wines are produced. Each estate makes somewhere in the range of 500 to 2.500 bottles annually. That makes it difficult to find these wines on the market. Ideally, you should travel to Acqui Terme, this wonderful town that is so rich in history and healthy spa waters, water that still runs out of the Edicola della Fontana della Bollente, the spa water fountain in the historical centre of town.