Tag Archives: Winery Wednesday

Winery Wednesday: Manzone

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Winery Wednesday: This time I am taking you to Monforte

In case you haven’t been paying attention, I have been doing Winery Wednesday for quite some time now, recommending wineries to visit in the Piemonte region. This wednesday it’s Manzone’s turn.

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Mirella Manzone

Manzone is located a little “out of my comfort zone” (we all know I am a La Morra fan), but you should make the trip! And if you’re lucky you get to meet Mirella (pictured above). Mirella and her brother Mauro recently joined their father Giovanni at the winery, and the three of them work together to produce the wines.

Manzone has a pretty good selection of wines as you can see below. And what’s cool about them is that all their wines have names. Normally all the cru barolos have names, but Manzones dolcetto is called “Le Cilegie” and the Barbera superiore is called “La Marchesa”. They also produces a white wine, Langhe Rossese Bianco, a fairly unusual grape that originally comes from Cinqueterre.

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Manzone Lineup

Anyways, if you are looking for a winery to visit, stop by Manzone. You can check out their website here.  And stay tuned for another Winery Wednesday next week!

Looking for a winery to visit this summer?

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Alessandro Veglio’s winery is on my list of places to visit

You may have heard of the winery Mauro Veglio’s, and you guessed it: Alessandro is related to Mauro. Just below Mauro’s winery you will find Alessandro Veglio. He is a fairly new to the business, but his wines are excellent. And it always helps that he’s a great guy!

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Alessandro Veglio

His lineup includes Gattera, a cru barolo located near the famous cedar tree. I recently drank his 2008 Gattera; a fabulous wine! If you visit him you might be lucky enough to meet his english bulldog Poldo. However, he only sticks around for a few minutes before he retreats to take a nap. Quite a character.

Norwegians, you will find the wines at Vinmonopolet as he recently started shipping wine to Norway! Yay! However, I am uncertain which of the wines will be available, but hey; a few wines are better than none!

How can you book a visit to the winery?

Alessandro doesn’t seem to have his own website (which reminds me I should talk with him about that) but you can contact him through the Agriturismo next door to the winery. Check it out here. If for some reason that doesn’t work, you can always as Manu at Cantina Comunale to call him for you!

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Bruno Rocca

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I know I focus a lot on Barolo, but as many of you know Barbaresco is also an amazing wine area. And one of my favorite producers from that region is Bruno Rocca. They have a really good selection of wines and a beautiful estate, so if you’re looking for wineries in Barbaresco (or Piemonte for that matter) you should check it out.

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The Rocca family has been making wine for decades, starting as early as the 1830’s. However, it wasn’t until 1978 that Bruno Rocca started making wine under the family name. And now his childern, Luisa and Francesco also work at the winery. You can see Luisa in the picture below. One of the prides of Barbaresco is the Rabajà, a very well known cru. tbt barbaresco tower

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Trediberri

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Although a fairly small winery, it’s definitely worth a visit. Trediberri is basically just 3 people from Berri (kind of): Nicola Oberto, Federico Oberto and Vladimiro Rambaldi. The winery is fairly hidden in the valley below La Morra, below the Rocche dell’Annunziata vineyard. We were lucky to visit with Nicola, and he showed us both the winery and the vineyard. What I love about Nicola is that he so passionate and he loves to talk about his work. He went into quite some detail about the vines, the grapes and the cellar work. I even got to taste some sulfite!

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One of his passions is to educate the younger generation about wines, and I definitely learned a few things during my visit. We unfortunately did not get to taste wines as we ran out of time, but I will for sure try them at a later date. It was a real pleasure to meet with Nicola, and I hope you will have the same pleasure sometime.

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If you want more information about the winery, check out their website.

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Paolo Scavino

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You may have read about them here before, but it’s worth mentioning them again. Paolo Scavino is at the bottom of the hill of Castiglione Falletto (right next to Azelia), and guess what: Azelia and Scavino are related. I forget exactly how (even though they have explained it to me a million times). Anyhow, at the winery you will most likely meet Riccardo Sgarra. He is not related to the Scavino family by blood, but it doesn’t matter because he’s been there so long that I consider him part of the Scavino family. And he’ll give you a wonderful experience at the winery.

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The winery has been and is currently being “updated”, and it’s really beautiful. I can’t wait to see the final result. In addition to a beautiful Cantina, they have an impressive lineup of wines. In addition to the dolcetto, barbera and langhe nebbiolo they have 5 cru barolo and a riserva. One of the more “famous” is the Bric del Fiasc, contains grapes from the local Castiglione Falletto vineyard Fiasco. And if you have the chance, you should of course try the riserva, Rocche dell’Annunziata.  If you go, say hi to Riccardo (and Elisa if she’s there). And if you’re a dog person, give Ercole a big hug!

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Check out their website for more information!

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Azelia

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Lorenzo is telling us about his wines

At the bottom of the hill of Castiglione Faletto (almost in La Morra) you’ll find Azelia. The winery started producing wine in 1920 and has gradually grown into the winery it is today. Lorenzo and his father Luigi run the winery today, already the 5th generation of winemakers of Azelia.

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As most of the wineries I write about, Azelia takes excellent care of the grapes in the vineyard with green harvest and no pesticides. And in the cellar they try to keep traditions in addition to using more modern techniques. The result is the lineup you see in the picture below!

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From Dolcetto to riserva, they go throught the spectrum. With 3 cru barolo and a riserva they represent a great selection of the barolo cru’s with Bricco Fiasco, Margheria and San Rocco. Check out their website for more information

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Maybe you didn’t know, but Revello Fratelli split in two and there is now also Carlo Revello & Figli. It’s a relatively new winery, however Carlo has 30 years experience since he worked with his brother at Fratelli Revello before embarking on this new adventure.

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Photo from Vinitaly

As you can see, the label is inspired by Carlo and his beard, and it’s one of the more artsy labels I have seen. I myself have actually never been to the winery since it opened, but will probably make my way over there soon. In the meantime you can read more about the winery on their website.

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In Serralunga you find a few wineries in the center, one of them is Massolino. A beautiful winery with a stunning view, and of course good wines. In addition to the “regular reds” they also make a Langhe Chardonnay and a Moscato. Everyone knows I LOVE moscato, it’s a perfect drink on a warm summer day or with dessert (or just because).

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The estate is now on it’s 4th generation of winemakers, continuing the family business from when Giovanni founded the estate in 1896. The winery has since been “updated” and is very beautiful!

If you are in the area, you should stop by. And if you do go, I recommend eating at Centro Storico while you’re there!

Check out Massolino’s website here!

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IMG_9873In the outskirts of Serralunga you will find Ettore Germano. Sergio, the winemaker, just finished building a new tasting room, and it is beautiful! One of the main reasons I visit Ettore Germano is for his riesling, Herzu! It might sound strange to visit a winery in Barolo to drink Riseling, but Herzu is truly one of my favorite wines!

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The new tasting room has a beautiful view of the Langhe, although we didn’t really get to see anything because of the rain. But I am sure the view hasn’t changed much from the last time I tasted with Sergio so I can assure you it’s beautiful. There’s nothing like drinking good wine with a gorgeous view!

Ettore Germano makes quite a few wines; 14 different ones, including 2 sparkling. There are many interesting wines in the lineup, including Binel (Riesling/Chardonnay), Balaú (merlot) and Barolo Prapò (a fairly unknown cru).

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Check out their website for more informtion. And if you go, say hi to Sergio!

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IMG_9783If you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Giuseppe, you should book a tasting here right away. Cavallotto is located in the outskirts of Castiglione Falletto in Barolo, and here you can find the 3 winemaker siblings: Laura, Alfio and Giuseppe. Together they make all the decisions about the winemaking, but their responsibilities around the winery varies. Giuseppe stays more in the cellar while Alfio travels more.

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Apart from the fact that they make amazing wine, it’s always fascinating meeting with Giuseppe. He is very interested in the weather, and has 3 weather stations of his own. He can tell you the weather in any month in any year, going back many years. Giuseppe is very modest, and will protest if you tell him that his wines are incredible. He is also quick to give credit to other wineries which is a quality I really appreciate. IMG_9821

Cavallotto would be called a “traditional” winery in the sense that they use big botti (as opposed to barrique) and they produce around 100,000 bottles a year. You can find 2 white wines here, Pinner and Langhe Chardonnay. Pinner (a fantasy name) is made with 100% pinot noir. I personally really like their whites. If you want to read more about their winery, take a look at their website.