IN BREVE
- Verduno Pelaverga has grown from 7 to 38 hectares from 1995 to 2025, with 90% growth in ten years.
- In the first half of 2026, bottled production grew 18%, from 154,951 to 183,399 bottles.
- Verduno Pelaverga represents only 0.3% of Langhe production, but is gaining attention in the red wine market.
- It communicates freshness, agility, and versatility even more than pepper notes, standing out as an alternative to more muscular and expensive reds.
- The average price of €16.50 keeps it accessible, providing credible entry to the Langhe for consumers.
Verduno Pelaverga has grown from 7 hectares claimed in 1995 to 38 hectares in 2025, registering a 90% surge in the last decade. Data from the Consorzio di Tutela Barolo Barbaresco Alba Langhe e Dogliani indicate, for the 2025 vintage, 2,058 hectoliters produced, 234,248 bottles sealed, and 25 estates among producers and bottlers, 18 of which are registered with the Associazione Verduno è Uno, chaired by Diego Morra.
Even more significant is the comparison of bottled production in the first half of the last two years: from 154,951 bottles in 2025 to 183,399 in 2026, an 18% increase. Clear progression, though built on still-small numbers.
Verduno Pelaverga represents barely 0.3% of production protected by the Piedmont Consorzio led by Sergio Germano. But it grows while global consumption retreats and a substantial portion of the red wine market shows signs of fatigue. As of July 1, 2026, 37% of the 2025 production remained in stock: nearly two-thirds of the vintage had already entered the market, just four months after release.
- Verduno Pelaverga, from the brink of extinction to 30 years of DOC in the Langhe
- Verduno Pelaverga: the new star of Piedmont wines
- “Verduno is one”: Commendator Burlotto’s Pelaverga awarded by journalists
THE PEPPER IN VERDUNO PELAVERGA
Within this positive picture, the denomination’s communication continues, however, to dedicate perhaps excessive emphasis to “pepper.” The descriptor has a precise scientific basis. In Verduno Pelaverga, rotundone, the molecule responsible for the peppery note, has been identified, generally present in concentrations between 40 and 70 nanograms per liter (in many cases close to those of Syrah). The human perception threshold in red wine is about 16 nanograms.
An important discovery, useful for explaining one of the distinctive characteristics of Pelaverga Piccolo. But wine communication cannot become a gas chromatography lesson. Also because 20-30% of tasters do not perceive rotundone even at enormously higher concentrations. And the same studies show significant differences between samples, vintages, vineyards, and production choices. Just as occurs with other “peppery” grape varieties.
Building almost the entire narrative of the variety around pepper risks provoking the opposite effect from the desired one. The consumer who doesn’t perceive it might think they haven’t understood the wine. Or they might associate Verduno Pelaverga with an aggressive, pungent, and difficult aromatic profile, while in the glass almost the opposite occurs. Pepper is a signature. It cannot become the appellation’s complete identity document.
A MODERN RED IN BAROLO COUNTRY
The real strength of Verduno Pelaverga, all things considered in the shadows (compared to pepper), during the presentation of 18 wines from the 2025 vintage at the Albeisa headquarters in Alba, is its extraordinary relevance today. It originates in the municipality of Verduno and in portions of Roddi and La Morra, in the heart of the noblest Barolo area. But it speaks a different language from that of the great Nebbiolo reds, themselves the subject of a “diet” that has made them more drinkable from their earliest years.
It has generally pale color, fragrant aromas, red fruit, floral notes, light tannin, and agile structure. And then there’s it, of course: the pepper. More or less distinct. It can be served slightly chilled and drunk without waiting years. It’s immediate, without being banal. Territorial, without being austere. Above all, it offers a concrete answer to the search for less concentrated red wines with alcohol not in the lead role.
In a Piedmont and Italian landscape still crowded with muscular, mature, and demanding wines, Verduno Pelaverga represents an authentic alternative. It possesses, always has, the characteristics that, today, a (substantial) part of the market is seeking. This is its strength. Its modernity: of function and consumption.
GOOD WITH FISH TOO
Telling the Verduno Pelaverga story to less experienced consumers—but also to modern professionals, too often attached to copy-paste—should start right here. It’s a red to drink chilled. Versatile at the table. Capable of occupying the space normally reserved for a rosé or, even, a white. It pairs with Piedmont cuisine, from raw meat to vitello tonnato. But it can accompany vegetables, spiced dishes, and fish preparations, such as cacciucco and stuffed squid.
It’s this gastronomic freedom that distinguishes it from many other wines of the region and makes it almost a must on the most respectable wine lists. In a land known worldwide for important, age-worthy, and often very expensive reds, Pelaverga Piccolo offers simpler access to the Langhe. The average price of €16.50 helps make it a credible entry point, without diminishing its origin and identity.
The appellation’s growth demonstrates that the public has already begun to understand it. Now an equally contemporary narrative is needed. Let the pepper remain in the glass, where it can be a fascinating nuance. In front of the bottle come first freshness, agility, versatility, and drinking pleasure.
VERDUNO PELAVERGA, THE COMPARISON BETWEEN THE 2024 AND 2025 VINTAGES
Characteristics, these last ones, that clash—in certain respects—in the comparison between the 2024 and 2025 vintages. Among the 18 samples from the latest vintage, presented blind at the Albeisa headquarters, there is no shortage of somewhat too pronounced tannins, bitter tendencies, and excessive alcohol levels, less detectable last year in the 2024 vintage wines.
Roughness and lack of balance that end up undermining the very profile of a Verduno Pelaverga DOC that cannot disregard aspects such as freshness, immediacy, gracefulness of drinking. The paradox is that among the most successful samples are the only two not vinified “as per tradition,” in steel only.
The reference is to Verduno Pelaverga DOC 2025 by G.B. Burlotto, whose alcoholic fermentation takes place partly in open French oak vats. And to Verduno Pelaverga DOC 2025 by Gian Luca Colombo, aged 100% in terracotta amphorae. A historic name and a “new” name able to demonstrate how continuous research is the foundation of a denomination’s success. Far more than a thousand descriptors.
And alongside the excellent 2025 performances of F.lli Alessandria, Diego Morra, Castello di Verduno, and Bel Colle, here is a revelation: Cantina Massara – Gian Carlo Burlotto, with a Verduno Pelaverga 2025 that stands as one of the most representative and typical in absolute terms of the young Piedmont appellation.
