Castello di Neive comprises a 150 acres (60 hectares) estate, all in the Neive town council, in the Langhe area of the Piedmont region. Sixty-two acres (25 hectares) of the property are devoted to grape growing and all the production, which amounts to an average of 12.000 cases a year, is obtained from Castello di Neive’s own vineyards.
Basarin
It is one of the vineyards our family has owned for the longest. I still remember when, as kids, we were making the trip from our home in Marcorino and, armed with baskets full of food and bottles, we met our aunts and relatives, all dressed up, and together we sat there, savouring those fabulous Dolcetto grapes, and the bruschettas, with olive oil, garlic and salt… Other pieces of land were added throughout the years to that initial plot and now we own all the top half of the Basarin hill. The reputation of the Dolcettos obtained from grapes grown on this hill has always been high. Our father, who knew the nature of its soil and how windy the hill can get, always insisted we should never plant any Nebbiolo there. We never did. But now the Barbaresco area has been extended to cover even this hill…
Santo Stefano
In 1964, during the negotiations to acquire the Castle and its vineyards, our father had to choose between a piece of land, in the Gallina area, where the vineyard had already been planted, and the Santo Stefano farm, where the land was mostly fallow. I have a very neat memory of the Santo Stefano hill in 1960, on the day the shooting season was opening: blackberry bushes were everywhere, covering the gullies made by the summer storms, and everyone was falling while trying to catch the many hares jumping from every corner….nevertheless, our father Giacomo, who knew the great potential of Santo Stefano, chose to acquire that wild hill: definitely a choice well made! We started planting straight away, with the help of experienced grafters, not the specialised plant breeders of nowadays. In this way we managed to transform Santo Stefano into the high quality vineyard it is today. In the last few years, while reorganizing the vineyard and replanting its oldest parts, we have selected particular clones, which are under the constant study of the researchers from the University of Turin. The original Santo Stefano farm, as it looked like in the 18th century, is now visible on a map obtained and kindly made available to us by Anna Riccardi Candiani, palaeographer and archivist...
Cortini
It is the vineyard closest to the Castle and the town. Its exposure is SSW and it is here that we produce the Pinot Nero for our I Cortini. The idea of producing a Pinot Nero was born out of the memory of a wine our father made for the family in 1957, buying grapes grown by Count Riccardi Candiani. It was an exceptional wine, far superior in quality to any of the wines we used to produce back then. My memories go to that wine and to my picnics with friends, to our being very young and very, very merry. It is with those memories in mind that I wanted to try and see if, with our increased knowledge, we were able to make a wine as good as that one made by my father.
Messoirano
The Messoirano vineyard has been one of the first land acquisitions made by our father. It was here that, at the beginning of the 1930’s, he built a house for our farmers, a new shed for the animals and some rooms for us, the family. Our grandfather Mentore insisted to have the room at the top, with a garret facing south and overlooking the Tinella valley, so that, early in the morning, he could savour the sun rising behind the Valdivilla hills. He ended up staying there only once, he confessed: on that night there had been a storm so violent that he, terrorised, slept for the remaining hours on a heap of straw in the shed. In the summer of 1943 we moved – all our possessions on a ox carriage and us kids, four siblings and three cousins, tagging along - from our old house in Marcorino to the new one in Messoirano. It was a memorable summer, full of freedom and play, with many little and important things to learn: how to sharpen a sickle, how to reap a field while bending down enough to be able to glimpse the white and blue knickers worn by the young farmer girl, how to work the engine of the threshing machine, the excitement and all the chaos of the harvest. Then the war came, with all its darkness and its rounding ups. The name Messoirano comes from the ‘falce messoira’, the sickle we used in the harvest.
Montebertotto
The Montebertotto vineyard is next to Messoirano and together they make up for an entire hillof our property, with extremely favourable exposure and microclimate. It is in this vineyard that, in 1978, we started our collaboration with the University of Turin by setting up an experimental plot for the clonal selection of the Arneis grape. At that time I was considering the opportunity to make a white wine (this also because my wife Mita only drinks white wine and, up until then, we only made reds!) and when I tasted the first Arneis made by Bruno Giacosa , it became clear that Arneis had to be my white wine. Unfortunately – professor Italo Eynard told me – no technical information was available concerning the clones and the right grafting and rootstock. It was therefore necessary to plant an experimental vineyard and to wait for the results of the clonal selection. After six years, the stimulating collaboration with the university provided us with all the technical, scientific and practical information we needed about this old and forgotten grape, and we could start planting our vineyards, knowing we would have achieved maximum quality and typicality.
Marcorino
On the map it is called Marcorinasso. The farm and a row of centuries-old pine trees dominate the top of the hill. In these vineyards Count Guido Riccardi Candiani – previous owner of the castle, always very fond of agricultural studies – made, in collaboration with prof. Dalmasso from the University of Turin, various trials with Pinot Nero grapes and some Arneis. It is very unfortunate that the war interrupted those Arneis trials. Today, maintaining alive that penchant for experimentation and continuing our collaboration with the University of Turin, we planted a vineyard with the Albarossa grape, a cross between Nebbiolo and Barbera made by the same prof Dalmasso. The first vintage was in 2006 and the results are exciting and surprising. The other grapes grown here are Barbera and Dolcetto, which take particular advantage of Marcorino’s exposure.
Valtorta
The Valtorta farm, together with the one we have at the top of Santo Stefano, is one of the ‘bases’ for all the machinery we use to work the fields and the vineyards. The charming building has a small tower and a beautiful view. It is in the Pastura del Barbaresco area. The vineyards have been planted with Nebbiolo for Barbaresco and with Dolcetto and have a SSE exposure. It is here that we found an old variety of Nebbiolo that we then selected for subsequent planting. Other parts of the property are used to produce hazelnuts, of the ‘tonda gentile delle Langhe’ variety.
Gallina
The Gallina vineyard is planted with Nebbiolo for Barbaresco, with Pinot nero for Metodo Classico and with Pinot Grigio, Riesling italico and Pinot Bianco for a Castelborgo Brut made using the Charmat method. The idea to make a Metodo Classico was born out of the discovery of a long and deep ‘infernotto’ corridor which runs from the castle’s cellars well into the depths of the hill, where temperatures in the summer do not exceed 13-14 C and in the winter do not go below 6-8 C, the ideal temperature for the production of such a fantastic and challenging wine.