arema, a name that is esteemed by the whole of Italian enology, is produced in a minuscule area situated in the far north of the province of Turin.There, on the confines of the Aosta Valley, topsoil is thin and that factor has shaped the "architecture" of the vineyards. The setting is one of great natural beauty to which the vines make an important contribution. For they are planted on a series of terraces rising toward the mountains and they are supported by granite columns that give the vineyards a unique, monumental and fascinating quality.
The terraces have often given way and each time the farmers have rebuilt them, bringing soil up from the valleys, securing it to the steep slope with new stone walls and replanting the vines in the same terrain and at the same altitude. That infinite patience, exercised over the centuries, has provided Carema an additional claim on the wine lover's attention: the savor of challenge.
The dominant variety is Nebbiolo, one of the few that can manage to flourish and produce excellent results in this district. For over the centuries it has developed powers of resistance to climatic conditions that are somewhat extreme.
Carema has an ancient reputation. Andrea Bacci, a medical doctor, said in his book De Naturali Historia Vinorum, published in 1597, that Carema was one of the finest wines available and that it was consumed at the Court of Savoy and appreciated by popes and cardinals.
Paul III greatly esteemed the wine. He once told Sante Lancerio, his cellarmaster, that he was always pleased when someone presented him a gift cask of the wine because, according to the pontiff, it was "an excellent and perfect beverage for princes and lords."
