In 2015, Alessandro Bovio (Ale) reclaimed family land in Roero and founded Le More Bianche. The name translates to “The White Mulberries” and refers to a white mulberry tree on the property that is hundreds of years old. Ale crafts about 5,000 bottles of Arneis, Barbera, and Nebbiolo each year, from 2.3 hectares in MGA San Bernardo in the commune of Magliano Alfieri.

Ale works alone, though closely, with friend Renato Vezza of Bricco Ernesto. Ale was a well known consulting oenologist for nearly 20 years, promoting an approach of natural farming and a simple cellar routine. When he was able to take back his family’s land, his goal was to make his wine his way, with nothing added or taken away. We like people like him who have no real concept of making wine for a market or specific commercial purpose.

He also cites the birth of his daughter as providing clarity to take farming organically to the next level. He works to reduce vine dependency on treatments, with some of his harvests having zero treatments - something very rare.

Though well known in Italy, he and various “new wave” growers transforming Roero are still relatively unknown in the USA, though it is rapidly changing - as such, we are Le More Bianche’s sole US importer.

The fact that Ale doesn’t make much wine keeps him under the radar as well. With not much wine, there isn’t much money to be made in importing the wine - this is unfortunately how many importers view it. It’s as shame, because Le More Bianche is in the top tier of the Roero hierarchy - one of the handful making true wine of the territory, above base quality. Even so, the wines easily sell out each year, and allocations will keep getting tighter.

Ale has a beautiful cell under his home that is accessed by imposing natural wood doors. It has a collection of neutral Pauscha Austrian oak tonneaux, Tava amphora, Clayver concrete eggs, stainless steel tanks, and concrete tanks. He even made some of his own concrete eggs.

Fermentation happens in stainless steel using native yeast via “pied de cuve”. Neither primary or malolactic fermentations are forced in any way - they are different every year in timing and feel each year.

If there’s one thing to give away that he was a consultant (working precisely), its the use of many different aging vessels that each bring something unique to the final assemblage. At least this is what he is “precise” about, as opposed to trying to engineer the same fermentation each year, removing terroir from the final wine.

To the point of his personality and how it translates to his wine, its been interesting to see the impact of Bricco Ernesto’s Renato on Ale - Renato works entirely by feel and is untrained. Ale’s experience is basically the opposite, though they share a kindred mentality. We see that working by feel is rubbing off more and more on Ale as their work together deepens. Ale’s wine, though always very good, become more emotional in style with each passing vintage.

As with the others we partner with from Roero, Arneis is a very important grape for Le More Bianche. Ale shares the goal of Cascina Val Del Prete, Bricco Ernesto, and Valfaccenda to be ambassadors for Arneis and to work to elevate its status back to “White Nebbiolo”.

Of the millions of bottles of Arneis made each year, nearly all are in an international or heavily controlled style, representing cash flow for wineries. Arneis is a project of love and pride for those such as Ale.

He and Renato Vezza experiment on what they believe results in the pinnacle expression of the variety - something made in modestly reductive manner (reminiscent of the modern trend in The Loire and Burgundy) with a little bit of skin maceration for texture and depth.

They joke that they are still working on it, though these are easily the finest bottles of Arneis in Roero - wines that do not miss a beat within a lineup of great French wine, quality wise.

The best part about Arneis from growers such as Ale is that the wines have a kaleidoscopic level of aromatic elements that shift with time in the glass, ranging from fruit, to earth, to herbs, and everything in between. Although they may draw elements from “new wave Burgundy”, these expressions are not “fruit at all costs”.