Silvia, Elio’s daughter and the aspiring winemaker took us on the tour and tasting.  Their production is about 4300 cases per year of Dolcetto, Barbera, Nebbiolo, and other international varietals (Cab, Merlot).

The land was purchased in 1948 and was originally fruit trees and other crops.  They went under vine in 1976.  They use only French oak barriques (not the large barrels) so they are considered to make “modern” style wines.

Elio Altare, Siliva’s father was disinherited by his father due to a dispute over the “modern” farming practices and had to buy the property back from his sisters after his father’s death.  Elio came out to say hello to our group, maybe because Silvia let us look at their family's cellar.  I joked that Elio has an alarm when someone touches the DRCs.  Lots of Burgundy and Bordeaux in that cellar.

They made no Barolo in 2002.  All of their Barolo was declassified and sold off.  They have been using rotary fermentation since 1994.  Their Dolcetto spends 2 days in the fermenter, the Barolo 3-5 days and the Barbera 3 days.

For some reason I was unimpressed with these wines although there were others that liked them a lot better than I did.

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