Appears in
Oxford Companion to Wine

By Jancis Robinson

Published 2006

  • About

Ghemme, ancient, tiny red wine zone high up in the subalpine Novara Hills in the north of the piemonte region of north-west Italy. Its promotion to docg in 1997 was intended to rescue its minuscule vineyard surface, less than 60 ha today. Like gattinara across the River Seisa in the Vercelli Hills with its satellites lessona and bramaterra, Ghemme is made from the nebbiolo grape (with a mandatory minimum of 85%) while the addition of bonarda, uva rara, and/or vespolina. For more details, see spanna, the local name for Nebbiolo.