Michele Chiarlo Roero Arneis Le Madri 2025
£18.95
The wine
A refreshing wine from the finest hillside vineyards in Roero, delivering notes of peach, tropical fruits and acacia flower. Elegant and silky on the palate, balanced through to a dry, savoury finish.
Arneis is the white grape of the Roero, the sandy hills on the left bank of the Tanaro opposite Barolo, and it came close to extinction in the 1960s. Its name means roughly little rascal in Piedmontese, a comment on how awkward it is to grow. Le Madri means the mothers, a reference to the older vine parcels behind the wine.
The producer
Michele Chiarlo
View all Michele Chiarlo winesFounded at Calamandrana in 1956 and now run by Michele Chiarlo's sons Alberto and Stefano, this is one of Piedmont's most decorated houses. Michele himself came from a family of growers in the Monferrato and built the estate outward from Barbera country into the great Nebbiolo hills.
The family hold parcels in two of the finest Barolo crus, Cannubi and Cerequio, and in La Court at Nizza, the small appellation carved out of Barbera d'Asti in 2014 for its best hillside sites. Every vineyard is farmed sustainably to Equalitas certification. The house philosophy is that oak should be used judiciously so the vineyard speaks first, which in Piedmont has not always been the fashion.
Chiarlo has also done more than most to argue that Barbera deserves serious treatment rather than being the grape Piedmont drinks while waiting for its Nebbiolo. The Barolo and Barbera wines draw 90-plus scores from Wine Advocate, James Suckling and Wine Enthusiast year after year, and in 2025 Michele Chiarlo was named European Producer of the Year at the Sommelier Wine Awards.
