This is a family holding, small enough (3.5 hectares) to essentially be a one person operation. He runs out of wine every year before the next wine is bottled and has done so for many years.

Cut into the slope of the hill under the neat two-story house is Roberto’s cantina. Although modest in size, it is about as immaculate as you’ll find anywhere. There are some smaller barrels here, but only to manage any surplus from filling the large traditional casks. Roberto’s education at the famed Alba school of oenology (Scuola Enologica di Alba) has equipped him with all the tools of a modern winemaker, but it has not led him away from tradition. He even has a small collection of turn of the century (19th, not 20th and definitely not 21st) farm implements on one wall of the cellar giving the almost laboratory like winery a little charm.

Roberto makes a little Dolcetto, a Langhe Merlot that tastes like Merlot and not just another Piemonte red, a Langhe Nebbiolo of Barbaresco quality, a Barbaresco normale (Morassino) and an ‘Ovello’ Barbaresco of distinct weight and substance. All of Roberto’s wines are examples of the respectful balance of modernity and tradition that characterises the best producers of the Langhe. These are intense wines. Not for the faint at heart or palate and they need time to develop and mature in the bottle.