Valletti Az. Agr.

Soaring above la città of Dogliani at 480-520m asl lies the comune of Pianezzo, with its pretty chiesa di San Martino. This is also where the Valletti family are to be found. On predominantly marnoso-calcareo soils they tend 6ha of Dolcetto, Nebbiolo, Barbera, Timorasso, & more recently Liseiret (Gouais Blanc!) vines. They also buy some Freisa from a nearby biologico vyd, with a view to planting it in future…

Now onto their 5th generation: youngest son Roberto (nato ’85) officially joined his father Giacinto & brother Mauro in 2011, having completed Viticultural & Enological studies in Alba & Torino. In più, Roberto brought with him invaluable experience gathered whilst working in Burgundy (Dme. Armand Rousseau), Australia (Torbrek), & California (Lambert Bridge). They had begun commercializing their wines in 1988, in 2017 they stopped using herbicides (& witnessed a leap in fruit expression & joy!), & then in 2018 they changed the bottle from Bordelais to Albeisa.

Roberto makes two cuvees of Dogliani DOCG: one ‘Pianezzo’ blends the fruit from three versanti (West, Est, Sud-Est) in stainless steel, while the oldest, 60 yo vines of Dolcetto located on the steep ‘San Martino’ east-facing slope go into making their top, griotte-like Dogliani Superiore ‘Vescu’, which may or may not see a passage in wood (tonneaux/botte grande). The wines are very lightly clarified & filtered.

They also make a stand-out Langhe Bianco from Timorasso planted on their limestone-rich soils, & in 2023 produced their first demi-jon of Liseiret (Gouais Blanc) with its rapier-like acidity!