Mauro Marengo

Located in the comune of Novello, the Marengo family cantina dates back to 1911, with nonno Francesco (nato 1933) brought up in the buildings perched above the vineyards of Terlo & Ravera, & the village of Barolo below. His wife Angela (nata 1938) came from Silio in La Morra & is reputed to have brought the first Nebbiolo vines to Novello, which at that time was growing mainly Barbera & Dolcetto. Francesco started bottling in 1970, along with his son Mauro (nato 1961). Mauro then married Lucia, & they have three children: Gabriella (administration), Elisa (marketing), & the youngest Daniele (wine maker). Daniele formally joined the family business in 2020, having graduated in enologia e viticoltura from Torino university. Both Gabriella & Elisa’s partners, Cristian & Pierpaolo are involved in the family business.

Alas, Francesco passed away in 2021, but he greatly approved of his grandson’s wines, notably the Dolcetto!

They have 13ha distributed over the comunes of Novello & Barolo, but to date they only vinify the equivalent of approx. 5ha; selling the rest off as fruit. Their Nebbiolo da Barolo vineyards are Terlo in the comune of Barolo, & Ravera in Novello; both at approx. 420m asl facing ESE on tortonian marne sant’agata fossili, sand & silty soils. Terlo soils are richer in silt, while the poorer blue-grey marne soils of Ravera have a fine sandy component. They also have Langhe Nebbiolo vineyards in La Volta in Barolo e Zora in Novello. Their Barbera, (old vine!) Dolcetto, & Nascetta vineyards are situated in Novello. The family farm organically, with no herbicides since 2015.

The cantina is in the process of being re-built to give Mauro & his son Daniele more space to work in. They vinify their wines traditionally & respectfully to bring out the expression of territorio, through spontaneous yeasts ferments, gentle rimontaggi/pumping over (c.30 days), some cappello sommerso/submerged cap at the end of vinification, using stainless-steel, cement, & large barrels ranging from 10HL botticelli to 25HL Gabellotto, Gamba, & Stockinger botti. The Nebbiolo da Barolo ageing is for approx. 20 mths. They bottle their Barolos using Amorim ND tech & Aquitaine Liege corks, & have just invested in a GAI bottling machine; bottling their Barolos at approx. 90mg Total Sulphur; for Daniele, the key is to arrive at 25/30 free sulphur at bottling. They bottle their two Barolos without clarifying or filtering them.

Their first Barolo under the Mauro Marengo label was made in vintage 2011 – a century after the founding of the cantina! And then in vintage 2014 their first Barolo ‘Angela’ was born, a blend of 80% Barolo & 20% Novello fruit. Their first release of Barolo Ravera, Novello, came in vintage 2017, & then again in 2019. They produce circa 2k bottles per year of each Barolo.

They also have a passion for making Vermouth!