Another visible change is the rise of sites once deemed marginal: those whose grapes were viewed as blending components for elegance or firmer acidity, perhaps, but not soloists. In this once-cool environment, the historically favoured sites – Cannubi plus the many sorì (south-facing slopes) – were warmer spots that shed their snow cover earliest. These continue to produce ever-more-luscious wines, practically ready to go on release (though not necessarily shorter-lived).

By contrast, the new names in the ascendence are typically east-facing or even somewhat northern slopes with less intense sunlight, often producing subtler, more ethereal wines. Full north exposures remain off-limits for the DOCGs but are being planted in anticipation of future changes. Other new sites sit at elevations once thought too high to ripen Nebbiolo. These trends have been hastened along by the market’s overall shift towards wines of elegance rather than power: Burlotto, the standard bearer for the graceful Monvigliero cru, recently acquired land in an east-/southeast-facing portion of Monforte’s Castelletto MGA, which typically produces an even more restrained wine.

The earliest shifts were eastward: Carlo Castellengo of Albino Rocca says his father-in-law Angelo first separated out Ronchi – a chilly, east-facing site – from the opposite-facing Loreto in the mid-1980s. Northward turns came later: for instance, since the mid-2000s, Barolo’s Cavalier Bartolomeo has made an impressive MGA wine in the northwest-facing San Lorenzo, which once supplied a component of the iconic Bartolo Mascarello Barolo (a fervent holdout against single-MGA wines). Still, it remains the only single-site bottling of note from this MGA.

Read more: The Barolo and Barbaresco Report

Another historically prestigious vineyard category is the ‘bricco’, or hilltop site, favoured for generous sun exposure but generally set on modest hills (just above 300m above sea level at most). The favoured bricchi of the 2010s and 2020s are much loftier, like Vajra’s Bricco delle Viole or Enrico Serafino’s Bricco di Neive, at around 400m or higher. Roberto Damonte of Malvira notes that the 400m site in Boiolo where they started sourcing grapes in the late 2000s had previously struggled to ripen grapes but now almost always reaches 14% potential alcohol.

Climate change is – of course – about more than heat. Drought is a major concern, particularly if there is also less snowmelt. This has favoured clay-rich soils: Damonte notes that Boiolo’s soils are so humid that a cluster of houses 200m downhill from them is called ‘Fontanazza’ or ‘fountain’ in English. The much sandier Roero, where Malvira is headquartered, is less drought-resilient; while Castellengo of Albino Rocca in Barbaresco notes that interrow grass helps them retain soil moisture, Damonte says in Roero they have to remove deep-rooting grasses that compete with the vines. Claudio Roggero of Barbaresco’s Castello di Neive says that thankfully they haven’t seen major changes in their Gallina cru since first bottling it in 2008 but notes that of course they are researching all available agricultural techniques: irrigation, deeper rooting rootstocks, even shading.

The start of the 2020s has seemingly marked a new phase, with the gradual warming (other than 2003) of the early 2000s looking tame compared to the relentless grind of record-breaking heat, drought and erratic weather. Gaia Gaja of Gaja wines says 2022’s heat and drought were very concerning – especially as their old vines on west-facing sites put out tiny leaves that barely provided any shade. To their surprise, quality was excellent – possibly because shut-down vines preserved high acidity and ultra-thick skins protected the berries while creating formidable tannins – leaving her (and us) with hope that, though styles might shift, the future need not necessarily be one of reduced quality.