What wines does Piedmont make besides Barolo?

Plenty, and the locals drink them far more often than Barolo. The everyday reds are Barbera — deep, juicy and high in acidity, the region's lunch wine — and softer, plummy Dolcetto for casual drinking. To finish a meal there's Moscato d'Asti, a gently sparkling, low-alcohol sweet white, and its fully fizzy cousin Asti Spumante. The main whites are nutty Gavi (from the Cortese grape) and floral Arneis from the Roero hills. There's also approachable Langhe Nebbiolo — baby Barolo, essentially — for a fraction of the price.

What is Barbera wine like?

Barbera is Piedmont's workhorse red turned quiet star — deep purple, low in tannin but bright with mouth-watering acidity, and full of dark cherry and plum. It's the wine locals pour with everyday food because that same acidity makes it a brilliant match for rich Piedmontese cooking. At the basic level it's a joyful, gulpable red; from the top Nizza zone near Asti, and from producers who age it in oak, it gains real depth and can rival serious wine at a fraction of Barolo's price.

What is Moscato d'Asti?

A gently sparkling, sweet, low-alcohol white from the Moscato (Muscat) grape, grown in the hills around Asti and Alba. It's only lightly fizzy (frizzante rather than fully sparkling), usually around 5% alcohol, grapey and floral and delicately sweet — the classic Piedmontese way to end a long lunch, especially with hazelnut cake. Don't confuse it with fully sparkling Asti Spumante, its more festive cousin from the same grape. Moscato d'Asti is one of the loveliest, most underrated wines in Italy.

What are the white wines of Piedmont?

Piedmont is red country, but the whites are worth seeking. Gavi, from the Cortese grape in the southeast near the Ligurian border, is crisp, citrusy and faintly nutty — a natural with seafood. Arneis, from the sandy Roero hills across the Tanaro from Barolo, is softer, floral and pear-scented. Both are dry, both are best drunk young and fresh. And for sweet, aromatic whites there's Moscato d'Asti. Reds still define the region, but these give the table its range.

Beyond Nebbiolo: Piedmont's Other Wines

Sit down to lunch with a Barolo grower and watch what lands on the table. It won't be Barolo. It'll be a chilled-ish glass of something dark and juicy, poured without ceremony, drunk with the food and forgotten about — and it'll be delicious. That wine is the real everyday Piedmont, and if you only ever chase Nebbiolo you'll miss half the region.

You've spent six chapters on the king and his court. Now the rest of the household — the wines that keep the trattorie humming, cost a fraction of a Barolo, and are, frankly, more fun most nights. For the grape treatise on Nebbiolo itself, that lives on its own dedicated page; everything here is what grows around it.

Barbera: the lunch wine that grew up

If Piedmont has a house pour, it's Barbera. It's the region's most-planted red, and its genius is acidity — bright, mouth-watering, food-slaying acidity — over a deep purple core of dark cherry and plum, with barely any tannin to get in the way. That makes it the ideal foil for the fat and richness of Piedmontese cooking: agnolotti in butter, a slab of vitello tonnato, anything from the region's generous kitchen.

Here's the useful split. Barbera d'Asti and Barbera d'Alba at the everyday level are joyful, gulpable, cheap — buy them by the case. But Barbera has a serious face too: aged in oak, and above all from the top Nizza zone near Asti, it gains real structure and depth and can drink like a wine three times its price. That's the insider's value play — a great Nizza is one of the smartest bottles in all of Italy.

Dolcetto: the easy one

If Barbera is lunch, Dolcetto is the aperitivo and the weeknight. The name means "little sweet one," which is a tease — the wine is bone dry — but it captures the mood: soft, round, plummy, low in acid, gentle in tannin, purple-black and easy. You drink it young, cool, and without a second thought.

It grows all over the Langhe, and the names to know are Dogliani (its most serious expression, capable of real depth), Diano d'Alba, and plain Dolcetto d'Alba. Almost every Barolo producer makes one — it's what they pour while the Nebbiolo is still growing up. Treat it as the region's handshake: uncomplicated, warm, and over before you've analysed it.

Nebbiolo is the wine Piedmont is famous for. Barbera and Dolcetto are the wines Piedmont actually lives on.

Moscato d'Asti: don't skip dessert

Now the one people underrate hardest. Moscato d'Asti is a gently sparkling, delicately sweet, feather-light white — around five per cent alcohol, grapey and floral and faintly fizzy — made from Moscato in the hills around Asti. It is not a serious wine and it doesn't want to be. It's the perfect end to a three-hour Piedmontese lunch, especially poured alongside a slice of torta di nocciole, the local hazelnut cake. Its fully sparkling, more festive cousin is Asti Spumante, from the same grape.

Dismiss it at your peril. A good Moscato d'Asti is one of the most charming things in Italian wine, and after a long day of tar-and-tannin Nebbiolo, it's exactly the palate-lightener you'll be grateful for. For the sweet-tooth traveller, it's also the bridge to the region's other great after-dinner ritual — a glass of aromatic Barolo Chinato with dark chocolate.

The whites, and the near-misses

Piedmont is emphatically red country, but the whites reward a detour. Gavi, from the Cortese grape down in the southeast toward Liguria, is crisp, citrusy and faintly nutty — a natural with the coast's seafood, and the region's best-known white. Arneis, from the sandy Roero hills just across the Tanaro from Barolo, is softer and floral, all white pear and almond blossom. Both are dry, both are best drunk young and cold.

And a few more worth a glance if you like a rabbit hole: aromatic Ruché and pale Grignolino for the curious red drinker; reviving whites like Timorasso and Erbaluce; and, for proof that the region does dry fizz too, Alta Langa — Piedmont's serious traditional-method sparkling, its quiet answer to Franciacorta and Champagne.

The smartest everyday buy of all

One last bottle, and it closes the loop back to the king. Langhe Nebbiolo is the junior appellation — the same noble grape from the same hills as Barolo, often younger vines or declassified fruit, without the mandatory ageing or the markup. It gives you the tar-and-roses signature, the perfume, the grip, in a wine you can open tonight for a third of the price. Every great Barolo grower makes one, and it's the single best way to taste a house's hand without remortgaging. Think of it as Barolo's approachable little brother — and buy it whenever you see a good name on the label.

You've now got the whole cellar in your head — the king, his court, and the everyday wines that make the region a place to live and not just visit. Which is the perfect note to end on, because the last chapter isn't about a bottle at all. It's about when to come, and it's the easiest recommendation in this series: autumn, when the vines turn copper, the fog rolls in, and Alba's kitchens start shaving white truffle over everything. Part 8 is the Langhe at its glorious peak.