Italy · Alto Piemonte

NOAH

Small Alto Piemonte estate farming Nebbiolo, Vespolina, and Croatina across Bramaterra, Lessona, and Coste della Sesia; known for iron-framed, site-specific reds from volcanic porphyry soil.

The producer

Andrea Mosca left a career as an architect and, with Giovanna Pepe Diaz, bought land in Brusnengo in 2010 in a zone of northern Piemonte that most Italian wine buyers could not place on a map. They named the estate NOAH after their son, Francesco Noah, made their first wines from the 2011 harvest, and have not changed the cellar approach since: spontaneous fermentation via pied de cuve, long ageing in large Slavonian oak casks and barriques that were already third-use barrels at the first vintage. Annual output is approximately 15,000 bottles across three appellations.

The vineyards carry names: Mesola and Forte in Brusnengo, Vigna del Monte in Lessona, Salero in the district where the family has lived since 2016. Bramaterra is the primary appellation, defined by red volcanic porphyry soil. Bramaterra Salero, approximately 90 percent Nebbiolo from the Mesola and Forte parcels, is the estate's core wine: dark-fruited, mineral, and built for the cellar.

Known for

Bramaterra Salero, a Nebbiolo-dominant red from named parcels in Brusnengo, aged in neutral Slavonian oak and old barriques.

Notable facts

The story

The Barrels That Stayed

When NOAH made its first wines from the 2011 harvest, the barriques in the cellar were already old: third-use barrels at the point of first use. Andrea Mosca and Giovanna Pepe Diaz kept them. A vintage passed, then another, then several more, and those same casks stayed in the cellar. New oak was never brought in. The reasoning was straightforward: the barrels were there, they were neutral, and they worked. More than a decade later, the same barriques that were already well-worn before NOAH existed are still in service, carrying each vintage through ageing in wood that has long since given up everything it once had to give.

From the atlas

NOAH

At A Glance

The Producer

Andrea Mosca left a career as an architect and, with Giovanna Pepe Diaz, bought land in Brusnengo in 2010 in a zone of northern Piemonte that most Italian wine buyers could not place on a map. They named the estate NOAH after their son, Francesco Noah, and made their first wines from the 2011 harvest. Fifteen years on, NOAH farms five hectares across Bramaterra, Lessona, and Coste della Sesia, with a further 1.5 hectares of Bramaterra vineyard in Curino under management since winter 2022. Annual output is approximately 15,000 bottles. Andrea Mosca makes the wine; Maurizio Forgia works as oenologist.

The vineyards carry names: Mesola and Forte in Brusnengo, Vigna del Monte in Lessona, Salero in the district where the family has lived since 2016. The bottles carry those names too. NOAH is a small estate that keeps its geography visible.

Place

Alto Piemonte sits in the foothills of the Alps in the northern reaches of Piemonte, well above the Langhe where Barolo and Barbaresco are made. The climate is cooler and wetter, the topography more irregular, and the zone has spent decades operating at the edge of mainstream Italian wine attention. That obscurity is changing, slowly, as Nebbiolo from volcanic and glacial soils draws buyers looking for something leaner than the Langhe.

Bramaterra is a small DOC centred on the commune of Brusnengo in the Biella province. Its defining soil is red volcanic porphyry, an iron-rich substrate that marks a clear physical boundary with the neighbouring Lessona appellation. Lessona sits a short distance away but on ground that is notably sandier and lighter. In the glass, that difference registers as weight and grip: Bramaterra Nebbiolo tends toward firmer tannin and darker mineral character; Lessona is typically finer-framed. Coste della Sesia is the broader regional designation that covers wines from across the northern Piemonte hills.

Soil And Site

The Brusnengo vineyards in the Mesola and Forte sectors sit on the red volcanic porphyry that defines Bramaterra. Bramaterra's defining soil is red volcanic porphyry. It drains well and forces vines to work for water, which tends to concentrate flavour without adding warmth. The Vigna del Monte site in Lessona occupies different ground: lighter, with more sand, and the wines it produces reflect that in texture and body weight.

The newest holding, a 1.5-hectare parcel in Curino, also falls within the Bramaterra zone. Curino sits at the northern edge of the appellation and the vines came under NOAH management in winter 2022.

Story

Andrea Mosca and Giovanna Pepe Diaz began looking for agricultural land around 2008. They were not wine professionals. He was an architect. In 2010 they bought their first vineyard in Brusnengo and committed to it: Mosca left architecture, the family bought a house in the Salero district of Brusnengo in 2013, and moved in three years later. The estate's principal wine carries the name of the street where they live.

The first vintage in 2011 went into barrels that were already old: third-use barriques from the outset. The large vessels in the cellar are Slavonian oak. Neither changed. The cellar approach was set from the beginning and has not been revised since: spontaneous fermentation via pied de cuve, long ageing in neutral wood. The Curino addition in 2022 expanded the Bramaterra footprint without altering the method.

What changed over the fifteen years was recognition. Alto Piemonte's volcanic-soil Nebbiolo found an audience among importers and buyers who knew Barolo well enough to want something beside it. NOAH was already farming the right appellation.

Vineyards And Cellar

All three grapes, Nebbiolo, Vespolina, and Croatina, grow across the Brusnengo and Lessona parcels. Nebbiolo carries the heaviest weight in every wine; in Bramaterra Salero it accounts for approximately 90 percent of the blend, which translates to deeper colour, firmer tannin, and a more muscular body than a wine with a larger share of the lighter-framed Croatina or the floral Vespolina.

Fermentations begin with a spontaneous pied de cuve, a small pre-ferment of grape juice and wild yeasts taken from the vineyard that then inoculates the main tank naturally rather than with commercial yeasts. The large cellar vessels are Slavonian oak casks, traditional in northern Italy and large enough to impart almost no wood flavour. The barriques used for smaller lots were already third-use barrels when NOAH made its first wine in 2011. They remain in service today, still the same casks, now many vintages further along. At this age they are fully neutral: no vanilla, no toasted character, no new-oak extraction. The wine ages in wood that does not compete with it.

Wines

The range follows the three appellations. RossoNoah is the Coste della Sesia bottling: Nebbiolo, Vespolina, and Croatina fermented in open vessels and aged in the estate's combination of Slavonian casks and old barriques. It is the lightest wine in the range, with red-cherry fruit, dried violet, a lean mineral edge, and a finish that carries more freshness than weight. It is the bottle to open earliest.

Bramaterra Salero is the estate's core wine. The blend is approximately 90 percent Nebbiolo from the Mesola and Forte sectors in Brusnengo, with Vespolina and Croatina completing it. It ages longer in the same neutral wood, and the Nebbiolo proportion gives it a darker, more tannic frame: black cherry, iron, dried herbs, and a firm finish that asks for several years in bottle. The Salero designation refers to the district of Brusnengo where the family lives, and the wine carries that specificity in its character as well as its name.

The Lessona range draws from the Vigna del Monte site. Because the soil there is lighter and sandier than the porphyry-rich Bramaterra ground, the Lessona wines carry finer tannin and a more delicate body than Bramaterra Salero, with higher-toned red fruit and a silkier texture. From winter 2022, the Curino parcel adds a third Bramaterra-appellation source to the estate's holdings, though wines from that site are still developing a track record.

In The Glass

RossoNoah opens with red cherry, dried violets, and a faint earthy minerality. In the mouth it is light to medium in body, with firm but fine tannin and a line of bright acidity. The finish is clean and mineral, short enough to drink the wine young.

Bramaterra Salero reads differently from the first pour: darker fruit, black cherry and dried plum, with an iron note that comes directly from the porphyry soil and carries through the whole palate. The tannin is denser and the body heavier, a consequence of the 90 percent Nebbiolo proportion and the longer élevage. Acidity is present but sits behind the tannin rather than leading. The finish is long, slightly bitter at the edges in youth, and built to develop. Open it young and it is angular; give it five to eight years and the tannin softens into the fruit without losing the mineral drive.

A Bottle To Understand It

Bramaterra Salero is the first bottle. It is a Nebbiolo-dominant red from the Mesola and Forte sectors in Brusnengo, the estate's oldest and most fully expressed Bramaterra parcels, aged in large neutral Slavonian oak casks and old barriques that have long since given up any extractive character. The wine has dark fruit, firm dry tannin, and that iron-mineral grip from the red porphyry soil underneath. It is not immediately easy: the tannin in younger vintages takes time to settle. But it is clearly the bottle that shows what NOAH is doing with this land, and why this small forgotten appellation in the Biella hills is worth the attention it is receiving.

Anecdote

When NOAH made its first wines from the 2011 harvest, the barriques in the cellar were already old: third-use barrels at the point of first use. Andrea Mosca and Giovanna Pepe Diaz kept them. A vintage passed, then another, then several more, and those same casks stayed in the cellar. New oak was never brought in. The reasoning was simple: the barrels were there, they were neutral, and they worked. More than a decade later, the same barriques that were already well-worn before NOAH existed are still in the cellar, carrying each vintage through élevage in wood that has given up everything it once had to give.

Final Word

NOAH is a small Alto Piemonte estate that chose one of Piemonte's least-known appellations, stayed with it, and built a short range of wines that keep their geography legible. The volcanic porphyry soil of Bramaterra is in the glass. The named parcels are on the labels. The cellar has not changed since 2011. Bramaterra Salero is the bottle to start with: firm, mineral, and built for the long term.

Sources

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