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A fine wine has deep roots. In the past our vineyards covered an area of about five hectares of quite rugged and steep terraces and were tended with back-breaking labour at costs in money and effort that are today unimagineable. In the early seventies the old vines which covered an area greater than that today were exhausted and unproductive, so they were grubbed out. The ground was levelled and the rows reconfigured for modern cultivation. Two plots totalling an area of about 1.7 hectares were replanted. The density of the planting is less than what is used generally these days, but we wanted to get a better quality product. The distance between one vine and the next is about 1.2 metres. In the main, the grape varieties are Nebbiolo, Vespolina, Uva Rara and Neretta Cuneese. In 2006 we put an extra four thousand square metres under vine cultivation following more modern attitudes to viticulture with a higher density of planting, one plant to every metre. The vines we use are basically three quarters Nebbiolo and for the rest we have a thousand metres of Vespolina. At the present time the area of the estate under vine cultivation extends over an area of two hectares but in the next few years we aim to increase this to at least three. Our annual production is about 10,000 bottles made up of three different red wines. On top of that we have a tiny production of Sforzato di Erbaluce which we make from grapes supplied by Andrea Manfrinati who, apart from being the owner of a vineyard in the area of Lake Viverone, is cellarman to this estate. |