The Lino Maga of Donnas, Rolando Nicco

From the Land of Picotendro

This post was from the first half of 2020, from my Mountain Nebbiolo issue, but the memories are too good to forget. If you aren’t aware of Carema’s neighbor, here’s one for you.

“Madame, forget my name, forget my face. Only remember the place, Donnas. Only remember the grape, picotendro!” Thus ordered Rolando Nicco of Selve. But, can you really talk about Barolo’s story and not talk about Bartolo Mascarello or Lorenzo Accomasso? Can you talk about Lombardia and not talk about Lino Maga? And so, when talking about this smallest and most forgotten of Italy’s DOPs, Rolando Nicco, along with the region and the grape cannot be written out of history.

It was late February 2020 and earlier on that Sunday, I landed in Italy just as the crisis landed as well. When I got into my friend Diego Sorba’s car, he had just heard the news that his Parma bar, Tabarro, had to shutter. In addition, his kids were not going to school in the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, the day was uncommonly warm, near 80. On the road, trees were in their popcorn stage, a good month ahead of time. With COVID around the corner, the unnaturalness had a terrible foreboding.