Alessandro, an oenologist, and his brother Luigi, an agronomist at the historic Cappellano winery in Barolo, began their first wine-making experiments in 2019 with the vineyards they inherited from their grandparents. Both are young, full of energy and ideas but above all already expert winemakers who, after years of trials, have decided to market this year for the first time their wines that they vinify, with the help and supervision of their friend Pierguido, in the Piero Busso winery in Neive.
Their project is to restore value to the Freisa that they have been cultivating for generations near the Superga hill in Turin, where the vines are rooted in a terroir of excellence that is part of the great ridge that stretches from Barolo to the Astigiano to the Turin hills.
Ultima Luna 2023, 100% Freisa, only 1300 bottles produced. Grapes harvested by hand from small and various plots processed according to the organic method. Even some bunches harvested from vines more than 120 years old are vinified for this wine. Vinification using the whole grape, without stalks, very few sulphites added only during the crushing phase and without adding any at bottling, fermentation in stainless steel, no clarification, must correction or filtration and a few months’ rest in the bottle. It is young but already more than enjoyable and well balanced. Easy to drink and immediate in the glass. It has good aromas and decidedly misty flavours supported by excellent, pleasant acidity. Immediate elegance and lightness and certainly also a good dose of complexity that it will express with a few more years of bottle ageing.
Magna Teresa 2023, 100% Freisa harvested by hand from the old vines (average age 70 years) of the estate’s organically farmed vineyard. This is the winery’s flagship wine dedicated to their grandmother Teresa and bottled in only 800 bottles. Whole-berry vinification with a percentage of 15% also vinified with stalks, very few sulphites added and fermentation in steel and ageing in Tava amphorae. No clarification, must correction or filtration and a few months’ rest in the bottle.
Like the Ultima Luna it is already very enjoyable and balanced to drink now, but here the music changes and you realise immediately after the first sip that there is more matter and energy. The bouquet and flavour are decidedly more intense, the well polished and pleasant tannin becomes more pronounced and there is also a slight spicy note that completes the picture of a wine that is still light and elegant but much more complex.
