Langhe’s soul-searching for its lost local varieties is not a recent phenomenon even if the history of the white Nascetta, bottled on its own since 1999 only, seems to suggest that. Langhe’s true avant garde when it comes to indigenous varieties can be found in the Barolo village of Verduno. It is here that, at least since the 17th century (but probably much earlier), the red Pelaverga has been cultivated. The wine was saved from extinction in the 1970s when single-varietal bottlings of Pelaverga started to appear on the local market.
But until the 1970s Pelaverga largely languished in...