From the atlas
Azienda Agricola Savigliano Pier Giorgio
At A Glance
Country: Italy Region: Piemonte Village / Comune: Valle Talloria, Diano d'Alba Appellations: Dolcetto di Diano d'Alba DOCG, Nebbiolo d'Alba DOC Key Grapes: Dolcetto, Nebbiolo Founded: 1941
The Producer
Azienda Agricola Savigliano Pier Giorgio is a family farm in Valle Talloria, a hamlet within the Diano d'Alba comune in the Langhe hills of Piemonte. Three generations of Saviglianos have farmed here: Giovanni, who started the operation in 1941 in the nearby hamlet of Borgata Fossato; his son Domenico, who moved the family to Valle Talloria in 1963; and Pier Giorgio, who grew up at Via Cane Guido 43 learning vine pruning and grape-to-wine transformation from both his grandfather and his father.
The estate's two main wines carry the appellations that define its territory. Dolcetto di Diano d'Alba DOCG is the flagship: a dry red built around Dolcetto's low acidity and characteristic almond finish, fermented in steel and released for early drinking. Nebbiolo d'Alba DOC is the second wine: violet-scented, moderately tannic, and built from the same Nebbiolo that dominates the broader Langhe but labelled here under the DOC that covers Alba's surrounding hills rather than the Barolo or Barbaresco zones.
Place
Diano d'Alba sits in the Langhe hills south of Alba, a comune with its own DOCG status built around Dolcetto rather than Nebbiolo. Most of the Langhe's prestige runs through Nebbiolo, through Barolo to the south-west and Barbaresco to the north-east. Diano d'Alba takes a different angle: its DOCG designation is for Dolcetto, a grape that ripens easily in the Langhe's clay and limestone soils and produces a soft, low-acid red that suits the local table.
Valley Talloria is a fraction of Diano d'Alba, a small valley address that puts the Savigliano farm among the slopes where the Dolcetto grape performs reliably and the Nebbiolo, grown for the DOC appellation rather than the more demanding DOCG zones, gives a more open and earlier-drinking expression than a Barolo or Barbaresco would.
Soil And Site
The Langhe hills are composed of alternating calcareous and clay-rich soils deposited during the Miocene era. Dolcetto performs well across this mix, producing wines with moderate body and low natural acidity. Nebbiolo on the same soils gives tannin and perfume but, in the DOC tier, is typically harvested and vinified for earlier access than the Barolo zones' extended maceration styles demand. No specific parcel or cru designations are sourced for this estate beyond the appellation classifications.
Story
Domenico Savigliano began farming vines in 1941 in Borgata Fossato, a hamlet of Diano d'Alba, under the watch of his father Giovanni. For over two decades the family worked that address, growing grapes in a territory where farming knowledge passed directly from one generation to the next: vine pruning, harvest timing, and the transformation of grapes into wine were skills taught by hand, in the vineyard and the cellar.
In 1963 the family moved. They left Borgata Fossato and relocated to Valle Talloria, establishing the winery at Via Cane Guido 43. That address has not changed since. Pier Giorgio was born into that new location and grew up working alongside both Giovanni and Domenico. The methods they passed on, rooted in Langa's farming tradition and the particular character of the local soils and grape varieties, became the foundation of the estate as it operates today. The range remained small and grounded: Dolcetto for the DOCG, Nebbiolo for the DOC, both worked with the same attention to grape selection and careful fermentation that the older generations had established.
Vineyards And Cellar
For the Dolcetto di Diano d'Alba DOCG, grapes are fermented in stainless steel tanks for six to seven days at controlled temperature. Frequent pumping over during fermentation extracts colour and body from the skins. The wine is bottled in February or March of the year following harvest and spends at least two months ageing in bottle before release. The wine is dry, with very low acidity and an almond aftertaste, and should be opened within two years of the vintage.
The Nebbiolo d'Alba DOC follows a different path. Skin contact runs for ten to eleven days, long enough to draw out Nebbiolo's natural tannin and extract the pigments that give the wine its ruby red colour and, with time, garnet reflections. Malolactic fermentation takes place in closed, sheltered environments, softening the acidity and rounding the wine's body. The tannins remain present at release and continue to integrate over one to two years in bottle.
Wines
Dolcetto di Diano d'Alba DOCG. 100% Dolcetto. The DOCG status places this wine in a specific hill category within Diano d'Alba, distinct from the broader Langhe Dolcetto DOC. Fermented in steel with pumping over, bottled in late winter, and designed for the table within two years of harvest. The profile is dry and rounded, with very low acidity and an almond note on the finish. A wine for pasta, roasted vegetables, and the kind of everyday Piemontese meal that Dolcetto has served for generations.
Nebbiolo d'Alba DOC. 100% Nebbiolo. The DOC covers the hills around Alba outside the Barolo and Barbaresco zones, producing a Nebbiolo that carries the grape's characteristic violet perfume and moderate tannin without the extended cellaring requirement of the prestige appellations. Ruby red deepening to garnet at the rim, with a full, harmonious palate. Full on the palate, with a harmonious body and the violet scent that Nebbiolo delivers reliably in this territory.
In The Glass
The Dolcetto opens with dark fruit on the nose, damson and blackberry, without the high-toned lift that a more acidic grape would give. In the mouth it is round and dry, with the low acid profile making the fruit feel smooth rather than angular. The almond note arrives on the finish, the grape's signature, and the wine closes cleanly without length. It is warm, immediate, and built for food rather than solo contemplation.
The Nebbiolo d'Alba opens differently. The violet scent rises first, fragrant and clear, a marker of the grape that holds whether the wine is young or has had a year in bottle. On the palate the tannins are present and firm at the front but not harsh: ten to eleven days of skin contact gives body and grip without the iron tannin of a full Barolo. The finish is harmonious, with the body filling the mid-palate and the tannin softening into a rounded close. A year or two from the vintage date brings more integration and deepens the garnet tint at the rim.
A Bottle To Understand It
The Dolcetto di Diano d'Alba DOCG is where to begin. It is a 100% Dolcetto, fermented in steel for six to seven days, released in spring, and at its best in the first year after that. The wine is dry and soft, with very low acidity and a clean almond finish: everything Dolcetto does in its home territory on the Langhe hills. No oak, no ageing ambition, no extraction beyond what six days of pumping over delivers. It is a straightforward, honest bottle and that is exactly its value: it shows the grape, the place, and the family's approach without complication. Open it with food.
Anecdote
In 1963 the Savigliano family packed up from Borgata Fossato, the Diano d'Alba hamlet where Domenico had grown grapes with his father Giovanni since 1941, and moved the operation a few kilometres along the valley to Valle Talloria. The date is clear; what prompted the move is not. What followed from it is. Pier Giorgio grew up at the new address, at Via Cane Guido 43, working the vines alongside both his grandfather and his father. Giovanni and Domenico taught him to prune, to select, to ferment, the full passage from vine to bottle as it had been done in that territory for decades. He has farmed the same Valle Talloria land ever since, and the winery has not moved again.
Final Word
Savigliano Pier Giorgio is a three-generation Langhe family farm built on Dolcetto and Nebbiolo, two grapes grown a few kilometres from Alba and made with the inherited discipline that defines small Piemontese estates. The Dolcetto is the wine to reach for first: low acid, dry, almond finish, and ready to drink in the year it is released. The Nebbiolo asks for a little more patience and rewards it with violet perfume and a full, rounded body.
Sources
- https://www.saviglianopiergiorgio.com/
- https://www.visitlmr.it/it/cantine/savigliano-azienda-agricola
- https://www.saviglianovini.it/en/wines/21-dolcetto-di-diano-d-alba-docg-savigliano
- https://www.saviglianovini.it/en/wines/24-nebbiolo-d-alba-doc-savigliano