Introducing Stefano Campaniello of cantina Morra Gabriele, a talented bright-eyed Romano who grew up near Milano, moving to London to continue his work as a Sommelier before heading off to Burgundy to work for a year in the vyds of Boillot, Volnay, & then on to Muga, Rioja, returning to Italia with a plan to set up on his own, in proprio.
In 2012 Stefano met Gabriele Testa, a keen (bianco!) trifulau & grandson of Morra Gabriele, & together they revived the nonno’s cantina in the comune di Macellai di Pocapaglia, with Barbera & Freisa vyds nearby.
In 2015 Stefano began renting their first Nebbiolo da Barbaresco vyd: a prime 0.3ha old vine Ovello (west facing), & then the cooler East facing part of Ovello (1ha of old vine vigna Bernino) adjacent to Montefico. From 2021 vyd they added 1ha of Fausoni above Neive (near San Cristoforo). And then in 2022: Starderi also in Neive. A total then of 1.9ha of Nebbiolo da Barbaresco vyds planted to Michet, Lampia, & clone 401.
The soils vary from clay-rich marne in Ovello, to blue marne in Bernino, limestone sandy marne soils of Fausoni, & to warmer sand in Starderi…lending Ovello presence/weight, Bernino spine/sapidità, Fausoni rose aromatics, & Starderi fruit!
Stefano tends the vines & makes the Barbaresco, blending destalked Nebbiolo fruit from the four vyds (Ovello, Bernino, Fausoni, & Starderi), the proportions varying according to the vintage (2021: 60% Bernino, Fausoni 25%, 15% Ovello) in stainless-steel, using pied de cuve/spontaneous yeast ferments, with circa 25 day pumping over (less in 2023), & cappello sommerso/submerged cap in exceptional years (in 2021), before ageing the wines for up to 14 months in ten year old, non-toasted 30HL Stockinger botte grande.
Meanwhile, at their Macellai di Pocapaglia cantina, that’s equipped with a battery of cement tanks & tonneaux, Stefano makes two Langhe Nebbiolos from their Barbaresco vyds: one a classic expression of Nebbiolo fruit, the other, more layered – Foravia (off pista!) – with 60% whole bunch vinified in cement. Plus he makes a juicy Langhe Rosso (Nebbiolo/0.3ha Freisa), a marnoso Chardonnay from 0.3ha vyd Fausoni, & 1ha of Barbera from Macellai.
From Barbaresco’s comune di Neive comes this exciting 15ha property, owned & run by the Pola family. The name ‘Fontanabianca’ is derived from the pozzo/well that lies below the cantina, on the northern side of the village. It was nonno Franco who first started bottling their Barbarescos in 1970, followed by his son Aldo in 1982. Aldo married Luisella (Chiola) from nearby Serracapelli, & now it’s the turn of their (second) son Matteo (nato ’91), who’s been working alongside his father on an increasing basis since 2013. It was in vintage 2017 that Matteo gave up his post at the ABC Laboratory in Alba & switched full time to the family business. Matteo is largely in the cantina, while papa Aldo prefers the vigneti.
In 2017 the family rebuilt the now spacious cantina, that sits above their old vine Bordini vineyard at 280m asl facing ES on soft sandy calc clay soils, of which 1ha comprises 70+ yo ungrafted Nebbiolo vines that goes into the single vineyard Barbaresco Bordini. Since 2008 they have also rented 0.82ha of 35yo vines from Neive’s prized Serraboella cru at 310m asl, steeply facing SW on white marne & iron, Serravallian soils. They also make a classic Barbaresco blend from younger Bordini vines, below the cantina & from the versante opposite called ‘Montesommo’.
Vinification is classic, fermenting the Nebbiolo da Barbaresco fruit in either stainless-steel or tini di legno for circa 13 – 25 days, with remontaggio & delestaggio, followed by malolactic in cement tanks, & affinamento/elevage mostly botti grandi, but also a small part of used barriques (in the case of the classic Barbaresco).
Vintage 2017 was also the year they also installed three wooden 35HL tini, switched the entire range of Barbarescos to DIAM30 corks, & the rest of the range to DIAM5. The wines are traditionally bottled using total c.100mg/litro (c.35mg/litro free) of sulphur.
Since 2013 the family stopped using herbicides, & from 2016 they’ve signed up to the environmentally-friendly ‘Green Experience’ in looking after their vineyards.
Hidden away in the little known Barbaresco village of San Rocco Seno d’Elvio, just outside Alba, is the single plot of 4 hectares (of Nebbiolo, Barbera & Dolcetto) farmed by Manuel Marinacci. A mere 1.5 ha of which lies in the Barbaresco MGA of Rocche Massalupo.
Manuel’s a young wine producer whose biggest claim to fame to date is as a class-mate of Giuseppe Mascarello at Alba’s viticultural school Umberto 1, which he left in the mid 1990s. Upon graduation Manuel worked abroad & locally for both large and small cantine/wineries before taking on the lease of the San Rocco Seno d’Elvio vineyard in 2002. Vintage 2004 was his first release. Manuel makes three wines: Dolcetto d’Alba, Barbera d’Alba and Barbaresco. Refreshingly Manuel immediately adopted the traditional approach to winemaking; Giuseppe’s influence perhaps rubbing off on him! His Nebbiolo for Barbaresco is vinified in either fibre-glass or cement without temperature control using selected or wild yeast. As he explains: ‘as a two-man operation I need the comfort of knowing that the ferments will happen when I’m away from the cantina’.
The Barbaresco is then aged in large slavonian botte for two years. Importantly he only vinifies that which is going into bottle with his name on it (rather than making wine out of all the crop and selling off any surplus as bulk wine); the rest is sold as fruit. So currently production of Barbaresco is at a third of capacity, circa 500 cases per annum. The style of Manuel’s wines are grounded in tradition, showing a kirsch purity & minerality normally associated with the comune of Treiso above.
From 2017, his Barbaresco will feature the MGA/vineyard name of (Vigna) Rocche Massalupo.
> Converting to organic. Bottling at 60mg/litro total & 30mg/litro free sulphur.
The son of a teacher from the ‘borgata’/hamlet of Albesani, close to the Barbaresco village of Neive, young Francesco Versio graduated in 2005 from Alba’s Umberto 1 wine school & in 2009 from Turin University, specialising in viti & viniculture. He worked briefly at the cooperative Terre di Barolo before joining Bruno Giacosa first as a cellarman & then as their oenologist in June 2011.
His family own a tiny property of two small plots of old vines in the ‘comune’ of Neive: one in the vineyard of San Cristoforo, planted in 1969; the other, Currà, even older, lies below San Cristoforo. Both face south-west & overlook the village of Barbaresco; both were rented out until 2012. The ‘terreno’ of San Cristoforo is more calcareo/calcareous, giving freshness & perfume; that of Currà is more sabbioso/sandier, imparting a warm softness to the wine.
In 2013 Francesco made only 20HL (2,600 bts) of his first Barbaresco from their two vineyards, at a yield of circa 30HL/ha, in the basement cellar of this parents’ house. He spent his earnings on a new temperature-controlled stainless-steel tank – the controlling element to be used only in emergency – & a large Stockinger botte grande. Vinification is traditional, with long macerations on the skins when the vintage allows; the wines always being bottled with approx. 25 mg of free sulphur.
The 2014 vintage, produced from fruit from Neive’s San Cristoforo vineyard, was down by 50% due to the vintage & because he replanted the Currà vineyard (with 60% Lampia, 30% Michet & 10% Picotener). Vintage 2015 was also made from the single, calcareous San Cristoforo vineyard. From vintage 2016 Francesco has bought fruit from a nearby Neive vineyard, Tetti/Cotta.
In 2017 he took on a small ESE vineyard in Borgata Pamparato, between Dogliani & Belvedere Langhe, at 500m asl, from which he is making Dogliani DOCG & perhaps in due course some Langhe Nebbiolo…plans are also afoot to invest in another botte grande & cement tank!
His 2019 Barbaresco will be a Neive village blend of San Cristoforo, Currà, & (for the first time) Starderi!