Piercarlo Culasso

For years Piercarlo Culasso worked his family's vines on the Faset hill in Barbaresco and sold the grapes to others. The wish to turn that fruit into wine himself never went away. In 2017 he founded the cellar with his three children, Martina, Michela and Marco, and the four of them still do every step themselves, from the vineyard to the cellar.

The vines have been in the family for generations. The family traces its love of wine to Piercarlo's grandfather Modesto and his father Dante, and says wine was already being made in the early decades of the twentieth century. The vineyards are old, and the Nebbiolo all comes from the Faset subzone of Barbaresco, on south to south-west-facing slopes at around 250 metres. The soils are Sant'Agata marls with limestone and clay.

Being small lets them work by hand and answer the vines quickly when the season demands it. They limit the use of tracked machinery in the rows, so the soil stays soft and airy and the rain soaks in deep. In the cellar they use modern equipment to make clean wines without heavy intervention, and they want each vintage to show how the grapes answered that year's weather.

The range is short. The Langhe Nebbiolo, first made in 2020, is the freshest version of their grapes and never sees wood. The Barbaresco Faset, first made in 2018, spends about a year in large French oak casks. The Faset Duesoli, first made in 2017, comes from one steep plot above the Tanaro and spends about two years in neutral French barriques. A Barbera Superiore completes the list.

They often find four-leaf clovers while working the vines, and the clover, a sign of luck, hope and prosperity, became the model for their logo.