Pietro Stara è autore del libro “Il discorso del vino” (ZIC Milano, 2013), con cui ha vinto, nel 2015, il premio per la saggistica edita del Centro Pavesiano – CEPAM e del libro “Il vino e la storia” (Sabatelli editore, Savona 2025). La sua ricerca si concentra sul mondo del vino, esplorando temi legati alla sua storia, alla viticoltura e all’enologia. Collabora con diverse testate giornalistiche, sia online che cartacee, approfondendo le tematiche relative al settore. Oltre al suo impegno nel giornalismo, insegna antropologia culturale e sociologia dei consumi, come docente a contratto, presso l’Università di Scienze Gastronomiche di Pollenzo.

Pietro Stara

Pietro Stara, autore di "Il discorso del vino" e "Il vino e la storia". Scrittore ed esperto che esplora cultura, storia e filosofia del vino.

Pietro Stara - Autore | Il discorso del vino, Il vino e la

The history of grignolino: roots and legacy of a great Piedmontese grape Dive into the enigmatic world of grignolino with this compelling historical investigation by renowned researcher Pietro Stara. Using an "evidential paradigm"—a detective-like approach—Stara uncovers the mysteries and complex identities of a grape variety that has shaped Piedmontese viticulture, yet whose history has often been overlooked. A historical enigma unfolds The journey begins in the 13th century (1249), tracing the grape’s earliest footsteps back to the monks of Sant’Evasio in Casale Monferrato. At the time, it was known as "Berbesino" or "Barbesino". It wasn’t until a 1614 inventory of the Casale Castle that the name "grignolino" finally appeared in official records. Key highlights of the research: The identity quest: discover how 19th-century ampelographers like Demaria, Leardi, and the traveler Giorgio Gallesio solved the puzzle of its many synonyms, confirming that the "barbesino" of Alessandria and the "grignolino" of Asti were, in fact, the same soul. The etymological debate: the book tackles the fierce disputes linking grignolino to barbera, debunking myths through the rigorous historical analysis of scholars like Senator Desana and Dalmasso. A sparkling past: in a surprising revelation, the text explores grignolino’s role as a pioneer of Italian sparkling wine. Long before its current still-wine reputation, it was crafted using the Méthode Champenoise, winning prestigious awards and ranking as a top choice for spumante production as late as 1924. The white mystery: the investigation even touches upon the elusive "white grignolino," a rare variety mentioned in historical texts and immortalized in the famous 1858 wax fruit models by Francesco Garnier Valletti.

1. History, mathematics and abduction

2. The nineteenth-century ampelographies and Grignolino, or Barbesino

3. Grignolino - TABLE XXI

4. Giorgio Gallesio. The travel journals

5. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries

6. Aldo di Ricaldone and the erroneous attribution of barbesine grapes to ancient Barbera

7. Desana and the refutation of the theses proposed by Father Coppo and then by Giovanni Aldo di Ricaldone

8. A viticultural sub-lexicon

9. A white barbesino or a white Grignolino?

10. Grignolino and the traditional method

11. Documentary appendix

12. Bibliography

72 OISTRYD RF BYIBNRLINR the Trebbiano oD Tortona, others to BerSemino, to ghetta and, still others, to Melera. Biulietti suspected that qe Crescenzo's Barbigenes or Barbigoni corresponded to Barbesino and that there was also a correspondence with the Barbosino named by Tanara in "L'economia del cittadino in villa" of 1G44. For Biulietti, the Barbesino of the Pavia area, when it reaches maturity, reaches a "reddish tint" that makes it resemble Brignolino and is a wine vine cultivated since time immemorial in Yovescala, south of Stradella and Castel San Biovanni. Nicolini then maintained, in the Biornale Vinicolo of 1H7H, that Barbesino was a grape variety dating back not only to Lombardy-Veneto, but also to the Ticino area and confused, in Piedmont, with Brignolino or Nebbiolo. According to Lorenzo de Cardenas, senator of Valenza excited by Acerbi, in the territory of Valenza there would have been a white Barbisin, an agglomerated Brabisin corresponding to Monferrina, a 8arbisin with a long hand identical to the ebbiolo oD Asti and the rosW Barbisin identical to Grignolino. Molon, in the end, agrees that the specimen described by Biulietti and that de6ned by Yovesenda ultimately coincide for most of the descriptive characters, thus bringing the Barbesina grape back to his Grignolino. 

10 Grignolino and the traditional method In 1784 there appeared in Turin, at the printing house of the Reycends Brothers, a work signed with a pseudonym. It is the book "Le vigneron piemontais1 " by the Chevalier De Plaigne. We do not know much more about the author than the fact that he participated in the founding of the Academy of Agriculture, that he was a Frenchman stationed in Turin and that he dealt with (we do not know in what precise role) the production of wines on the Turin hills. "Le vigneron piemontais" is a detailed work, which aimed to explain the way to plant vineyards, to cultivate them, to make wine, to preserve it in barrels and to prepare it in such a way as to keep it healthy and suitable for long conservation. In this text appears a qrst very :uick advice for making white wines sparkle. According to Chevalier De Plaigne there was nothing easier than making white wine sparkle2 -4 hours before putting it into bottles, one must put powdered candied sugar in the proportion of a two5inch piece (about   cm) for a :uantity of qve  brenteO of wine. zne can hypothesi0e that a compact piece of sugar of these dimensions corresponds to -HH grams. Therefore, it is this :uantity of sugar that De Plaigne suggested using for - H liters of wine. Lowever, this 1. Le vigneron Pi montais contenant la maniere de planter les vignes, de les cultiver, de faire le vin, de le traiter dans les tonneaux, et de le pr parer de la fa on la plus propre a le conserver, et a le rendre sain. Ouvrage  galement utile a l'Italie by Chevalier de Plaigne,  es fr/res Reycends, 1784, at https266gallica. bnf.fr6ark261-1486bd9t 413 87-36fSH.item 

Roots and Evidence of a Great Piedmontese Grape Variety - The History of Grignolino