The district
Few places on earth are more beautiful than Piedmont on a sunny day in autumn. The rolling hills with vineyards stand in golden colors with the snowy Alps in the background and blue sky above. What characterizes autumn in Piedmont is now otherwise mist, which occurs when the cold mountain air from the Alps meets the warm air from the lowlands. In terms of wine, there are no other areas in Italy with so many DOC and DOCG. Wines such as Barbaresco, Barolo, Langhe, Barbera d’Alba or Moscato d’Asti have their staunch supporters, although the high prices for some of the wines put a damper on enthusiasm.
The area on the slopes around the village of Barbaresco, which produces DOCG Barbaresco (approx. 700 ha.) from pure Nebbiolo grapes, is cultivated quite intensively, and as soil conditions and exposure vary greatly, the style and quality of the wines from the district can vary greatly . In fact, there are no less than 66 “subzones” (“menzioni geografiche aggiuntive” or MeGAs) in the DOCG, and among them quite a few famous vineyards, which can almost be compared to “Cru” fields known from France. Of course, the skill of the producers also has a lot to say. For Barbaresco too, strict legislation regarding the regulation of e.g. yield and barrel aging has meant a major improvement in quality.
The manufacturer
Ca’ del Baio has been owned and run by the Grasso family for 4 generations and since 1880. Today, the family has a distinguished portfolio of fields near the village of Treiso (7 km. from Alba) and in Barbaresco itself – a total of 28 ha. They thus have plots in some of the best fields in the area, including in “Asili”, “Valgrande”, “Marcarini”
and “Pora”. Ca’ del Baio has (naturally) primarily planted the fields with Nebbiolo, but they also grow Barbera, Dolcetto, Moscato, Chardonnay and… Riesling!
For the Grasso family, respect for nature has always been a matter of course rather than a formulated philosophy, and for many years no artificial fertilizers or pesticides have been used in the fields. But in 2017, the respect gained substance in a more formulated philosophy, when they joined a new local project in Piedmont, which aims to promote a more sustainable and environmentally friendly wine production. The project is called “The Green Experience” and is an aid and control body where you undertake to respect and comply with a set of rules on 10 points. In addition to promoting a more sustainable and environmentally friendly wine production (including without chemicals), the set of regulations also aims to promote biodiversity, flora protection and the spread of beneficial insects and birds, for example.
