Agricola Marrone has been producing outstanding wines in Piedmont for four generations.
The third and fourth generations are running the estate today and every care is taken to ensure the quality of the wines.
The grapes are hand picked into 18kg boxes and transported to the winery on sleds to avoid them being bounced about on the back of a trailer!
The whites are fermented at 16C ensuring freshness with complexity. Red fermentation is traditional but done with a delicate hand to ensure silky tannins.
The wines reflect perfectly their terroir but are, at the same time supremely drinkable lacking the aggressive tannins of so many wines from the region.
Although this family estate was formed as recently as 1948, there are documents that show the Povero family have been growing vines and making wine since 1837. Today the estate is run by the grandchildren of founder Bartolomeo. Alessio and Margherita make the wines and take care of the cellar, Daniele works in the vineyards whilst Luca and Romano take care of the commercial side of things.
The wines here are made in a sustainable fashion, with no chemical fertilisers or herbicides used, electricity for the winery is produced using solar energy and water is drawn from the wineries own ancient well.
Cascina Vèngore was born in 2012 from the desire of the Povero family to recover some long since abandoned land and the dream of a young vigneron, Lucrezia Povero, to produce expressive wines from native varietals in harmony with nature and the land in which she was born and raised. It is a realm of biodiversity with 100% organic cultivation and a natural amphitheatre, 26 hectares in one single plot around a traditional Piedmontese farmhouse in the heart of Terre Alfieri (Piemonte), a small DOCG representing the ideal synthesis of Langhe, Roero, and Monferrato.
Lucrezia focuses on three indigenous varietals: Nebbiolo, Barbera, and Arneis, exploring their infinite potential and following traditional Piedmontese winemaking practices (steel, amphora, and large wood barrels) with minimal intervention.
Giuseppe Cortese are undoubtedly one of the best estates in Piedmont. In the recent Decanter Piedmont Vintage Report Stephen Brook gave this wine 95 points, unsurpassed by any other wine in Piedmont and top of the Barbaresco tasting! The Barbera d'Alba is the entry level and is a great introduction to the estate and the Rabajà is a wonderful expression of Nebbiolo. Quantities are limited and may have to be allocated.
Tenuta di Melo is part of the Rosso Cairo family's estate that also includes their biodynamic farm. The family have invested heavily in the Gavi region for the last ten years to achieve sustainable agriculture and enhance the local terroir.
The estate has a mix of agriculture, chesnut woodlands mingle with cereal fields, vineyards and pastures which enhance the overall health of the ecosystem. There are 15 hectares in total of relatively young vineyards grown on suitable sites with beneficial exposures. The wines here are Demeter certified.