Italy · Roero

Azienda Agricola Demarie

Third-generation family estate in the Roero, producing ten wines from 30 hectares of sandy, seashell-laced soils on the north bank of the Tanaro, from floral Arneis to Barolo.

The producer

Demarie farms the left bank of the Tanaro river in Vezza d'Alba, where the Roero DOCG sits on sandy soils packed with marine sediments and seashells, geologically opposite to the clay-heavy Langhe across the water. Brothers Aldo and Paolo Demarie, together with Paolo's wife Monica, run an estate that spans approximately 30 hectares across four communes and produces around 120,000 bottles a year. Third-generation ownership has not narrowed the range: ten wines stretch from the white Arneis and lightly sparkling Birbet of the Roero home ground through to Barbaresco and Barolo from Langhe Nebbiolo.

The wine that most clearly marks the estate's own direction is the Roero Arneis Spumante, made by the traditional method with a minimum of 18 months ageing on lees. Arneis is almost never vinified this way in the Roero. That extended lees contact adds a bread-crust, toasty layer to the grape's natural pear and white flower character and draws a clean, dry finish from a grape usually left undemanding. The 2013 winery, engineered to Italy's highest energy classification with half-metre concrete walls, biomass heating from pruned vine wood, and a natural-filtration pond, is the physical expression of how the family thinks about the land they farm.

Known for

Roero Arneis, including a traditional-method Spumante aged 18 months on lees, and Nebbiolo across Roero Riserva, Barbaresco, and Barolo.

Notable facts

The story

The Walls Hold

When Aldo and Paolo Demarie broke ground on their new winery in 2010, the plans called for walls half a metre thick and a roof 60 centimetres deep. The concrete mass was not decorative. The family had decided that the building itself would control temperature through the crush and through winter, without the mechanical systems that most modern wineries rely on. It took three years to complete. When the facility opened in October 2013, it ran on 72 solar panels and a heating system fed by pruned vine wood from the estate's own vineyards, one of only a handful of such systems in Piemonte. A pond outside the entrance filtered the building's wastewater and returned it to the vines. Italy's national energy authority classified the building A+, the highest rating in the country's system. For a family estate in the Roero, the scale of that commitment was entirely out of proportion to the production volume. The building is still there, and the thermal walls still hold.

From the atlas

Azienda Agricola Demarie

At A Glance

The Producer

Demarie farms the sandy north bank of the Tanaro river, where the Roero DOCG sits geologically apart from the clay-heavy Langhe on the opposite shore. Brothers Aldo and Paolo Demarie, together with Paolo's wife Monica, run an estate that now spans approximately 30 hectares and produces around 120,000 bottles a year across ten wines. Third-generation ownership has not narrowed the range; it has spread it from the white Arneis and lightly sparkling Birbet of the Roero home ground through to Barbaresco and Barolo from Langhe Nebbiolo.

The wine that most clearly marks Demarie's own direction is not a red. The Roero Arneis Spumante is made by the traditional method, the same process used in Champagne, with a minimum of 18 months ageing on lees. Arneis is almost never vinified this way in the Roero. Choosing to do so says something about how the family reads the grape: as something with enough body and aromatic complexity to hold up through secondary fermentation and a long lees contact.

Place

The Roero occupies the left bank of the Tanaro, the river that also forms the northern boundary of the Langhe. The two zones are close in distance and far apart in geology. The Roero's soils are predominantly sandy, mixed with marine sediments, seashells, and limestone laid down when this part of Piemonte was still submerged. That sandy, free-draining base lightens everything grown here: whites from Arneis tend toward floral and fresh rather than weighty, and reds from Nebbiolo in Roero ripen earlier and with softer tannin than their counterparts across the river in Barolo and Barbaresco.

Demarie's vineyards spread across four communes: Vezza d'Alba, Castagnito, Castellinaldo, and Guarene. Each sits within the sandy Roero topography, with vineyards in all four communes.

Soil And Site

The Roero's sand and marine limestone are the geological record of a Pliocene sea floor. The seashells embedded in the soil are visible in freshly turned earth. This sandy ground drains quickly, warms fast in spring, and limits vine vigour. Arneis grown here builds aromatic freshness rather than weight. Nebbiolo, planted on the heavier pockets of limestone and compacted sand, still ripens earlier than in the clay-rich soils of Barolo, producing wines with softer tannin and more immediate red fruit.

Story

Three generations have farmed this ground in Vezza d'Alba. The estate expanded its scope over time, adding Langhe appellations to the Roero core and growing the annual production to its current volume of around 120,000 bottles. By the time Aldo and Paolo Demarie took responsibility for the estate, the range was already broad, covering both sides of the Tanaro.

The clearest evidence of the current generation's thinking arrived in 2013, when the family opened a new winemaking facility that had taken three years to plan and build. The decision was not about expanding capacity. It was about how a Roero estate of this scale could manage temperature, energy, and water without outsourcing those problems. The building's walls are 50 cm thick, the roof 60 cm, and the thermal mass of that construction keeps temperatures stable through harvest and winter without mechanical intervention. Biomass heating runs on pruned vine material from the estate's own vineyards. Seventy-two solar panels cover a portion of the electricity demand. A filtration pond in front of the building processes wastewater and returns it to the vineyards. The building received Italy's highest energy classification, A+. For a small family estate in the Roero, that is an unusual engineering commitment.

Vineyards And Cellar

The 30 hectares spread across four communes allow Demarie to work with the Roero's range of exposures and sand compositions rather than farming a single block. Arneis, the white grape native to the Roero, is planted across these parcels and vinified in two styles: still and sparkling. The still Roero Arneis follows the appellation's conventional path. The Spumante takes Arneis through secondary fermentation in bottle, then leaves the wine on the spent yeast cells for at least 18 months before disgorgement. That extended lees contact adds a bread-crust, toasty layer to the grape's natural pear and white flower character and softens the finish.

Nebbiolo grown in the Roero produces the Roero Riserva. The same grape, sourced from Langhe sites rather than Roero parcels, goes into the Nebbiolo d'Alba, Barbaresco, and Barolo. The cellar thus handles Nebbiolo across multiple appellation frameworks and soil types, adjusting winemaking to the different tannin and ripeness profiles each site delivers. Barbera d'Alba, Dolcetto d'Alba, Moscato d'Asti, and Birbet fill the remainder of the ten-wine portfolio.

Wines

The ten wines divide into three clear groups. The Roero home wines are Roero Arneis, Roero Arneis Spumante, Roero Riserva, and Birbet. Birbet is a lightly sparkling, low-alcohol red made from Brachetto, a grape that produces wines with vivid strawberry and rose aromas and very little tannin. The Langhe reds are Barbera d'Alba, Dolcetto d'Alba, Nebbiolo d'Alba, Barbaresco, and Barolo. Moscato d'Asti, the naturally sweet, gently fizzy white from Moscato Bianco, sits at the lighter end of the portfolio.

The Roero Riserva is the estate's serious Nebbiolo from home ground. It carries the appellation's sandy-soil character: red cherry and dried rose, medium tannin, fresh acidity, and earlier drinkability than a Barolo of comparable age. The Barbaresco and Barolo bring denser tannin and darker fruit, shaped by the clay-heavy Langhe soils across the river. Barbera d'Alba typically delivers high acidity with full body and dark fruit, while Dolcetto d'Alba offers soft tannin, blue fruit, and a characteristic bitter almond finish. The Arneis Spumante stands apart from every other wine in the range: fine bubbles, lees-derived complexity, and the grape's native orchard-fruit freshness held in a dry, toasty frame.

In The Glass

The Roero Arneis rises from the glass with white peach, pear, and acacia blossom. In the mouth the wine is light-bodied and dry, with clean acidity cutting through the floral character and a short, fresh finish. The Arneis Spumante carries the same fruit base but builds on it: 18 months on lees add a faint autolytic quality, bread-crust and almond alongside the pear and flower, and the mousse is fine and persistent. The finish is drier and longer than the still version.

The Roero Riserva moves in a different direction: dried rose, cherry, a hint of iron and earth typical of Nebbiolo on sandy soils, with tannin that is present but not aggressive, and acidity that keeps the wine alive across the palate. The Barbera d'Alba has a deeper colour, soft tannin, concentrated plum and blackberry fruit, and the high acidity that characterises Barbera in every Piemontese sub-zone. Birbet is low in alcohol, lightly sparkling, perfumed with strawberry and rose, and best understood as a sweet-tending aperitivo rather than a red to drink with food.

A Bottle To Understand It

The Roero Arneis is the clearest first bottle. It is a dry white wine made from Arneis, the grape native to the Roero DOCG, grown on the estate's sandy parcels in Vezza d'Alba and the surrounding communes. In the glass it is light, floral, and fresh: white peach and pear on the nose, a clean dry palate with enough acidity to give it shape, and a short, undemanding finish. It does not require food, though it pairs easily with seafood and lighter antipasti. A bottle of the Roero Arneis explains where the estate is, what the sandy Roero soils produce, and how Arneis behaves when farmed on its home ground. For anyone curious about the Arneis grape or the Roero appellation, the still version is the simplest possible introduction before moving on to the Spumante or the Riserva.

Anecdote

When Aldo and Paolo Demarie broke ground on their new winery in 2010, the plans called for walls half a metre thick and a roof 60 centimetres deep. The concrete mass was not decorative. The family had decided that the building itself would control temperature through the crush and through winter, without the mechanical systems that most modern wineries rely on. It took three years to complete. When the facility opened in October 2013, it ran on 72 solar panels and a heating system fed by pruned vine wood from the estate's own vineyards, one of only a handful of such systems in Piemonte. A pond outside the entrance filtered the building's wastewater and returned it to the vines. Italy's national energy authority classified the building A+, the highest rating in the country's system. For a family estate in the Roero, the scale of that commitment was entirely out of proportion to the production volume. The building is still there, and the thermal walls still hold.

Final Word

Demarie covers a lot of ground for a 30-hectare estate: ten wines, two rivers, and the full arc of Piemontese grapes from Moscato to Barolo. The Roero Arneis Spumante is the wine that marks their most deliberate choice, putting a grape that almost nobody treats this way through 18 months of traditional-method ageing. The 2013 winery is the physical evidence of how the third generation thinks about the land they farm. Start with the Arneis, then decide which direction you want to go.

Sources

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