|
the history; the philosophy ; the estate today
This is the story of a young and small estate in Piedmont. Cascina Roera was created in 2002 by two young entrepreneurs: Claudio ROSSO and Piero NEBIOLO (such predestined names!) We were both already producers of quality wine, but we thought
that, by joining our force, we would further improve the quality
of our products. Claudio started to get involved in 1985 already
with the family estate but it is only in 2000 that he became a full
time wine grower. His father was one of the pioneer to bottle his
wines back in the sixties, when most of the producers of the area
where selling their production in bulk. Piero also was born in a
grower family and, decided to point on quality, he started to bring
together around 5 hectares among the most suitable in the area.
He replanted it partly to Barbera and added other varieties such
as Nebbiolo and Chardonnay.
We feel like artisans of wine and we have decided to produce wine of quality with respect to the consumer and the environment. Producing quality wine includes the primary selection of varieties suitable for the area and the use only of terrains with a vocation; after that it is essential to have a correct management of the vines and the soil and we reduce as much as possible mechanic intervention. Our vineyards are fully inherbited to guaranty the best balance between soil and plant in relation with climatic exigencies. Regarding this, we think it important not to use herbicides, chemical fertilisers and insecticides in the vineyards; they are only sprayed with copper or sulphur-based product and in minimum quantity (around 4/5 spraying in a normal year). This is one of the results of the natural balance obtained between plant and soil. The quality obtained is another obvious result. Work in the cellar follows the same philosophy with interventions reduced to the strict minimum necessary to preserve all the work done in vineyard: only a few racking, no filtration and no use of additives. Sulphur dioxide (SO2) is used only at very low level, mainly just before bottling. This results in wines reaching to the consumer with extremely low content of SO2 (see technical sheets of the wines), which is all benefit of their health. Even though we have all the requisites to certify our estate as an organic one, we decided not to do it since we believe that for the time being it doesn't offer enough guaranties to the consumer. We would like to take the opportunity to thank Dr. Lorenzo Corino
for his teaching and the examples given to this estate.
Today, it extends on about 7ha, all of it being situated on the commune of Costigliole d'Asti in the heart of the "BARBERA D'ASTIi" appellation. The varieties are 65% Barbera, 18% Chardonnay, 10% Nebbiolo, and the remaining 7% distributed between Arneis, Cortese and Freisa. The potential production is between 35.000 and 40.000 bottles per
year, even though during the last years, because of new plantations
and atmospheric adversity (hail or excess of temperature) we had
to reduce by half the production. The vineyards present divers exposures
and soils: this allows us to increase the complexity of our wines
(the Cardin being the perfect example).
We shall thank Ettore Viganò and Emmanuel Guex for their collaboration to the creation of the website. |