Storia
Roots in Santo Stefano Belbo
The story begins with the Ceretto family’s roots in Valdivilla, a hamlet of Santo Stefano Belbo. Riccardo Ceretto came from Valdivilla, and his sons Bruno and Marcello later sought to reconnect their wine activity with their family’s native area.
1976: the creation of I Vignaioli di Santo Stefano
By 1976, Moscato production around Santo Stefano Belbo had become increasingly commercial and associated with excessive yields. A group of local growers wanted a radical change that would restore quality and produce a wine faithful to the area while remaining pleasurable to drink.
That shared objective brought together four Moscato growers—Giancarlo Scavino, Sergio Santi, Mario Monti and Piero Gatti—and the brothers Bruno and Marcello Ceretto. The growers contributed their Moscato-planted land, while the Ceretto brothers supplied commercial experience. The resulting enterprise was initially called I Vignaioli di Santo Stefano Belbo.
The project also introduced a flush cork closure to Moscato bottles in 1976, an innovation for I Vignaioli at the time. The first production year recorded for both Moscato d’Asti and Asti Spumante was 1978.
Expansion and consolidation
The enterprise subsequently acquired and selected further land in the Canelli and Calosso areas. Its present vineyard surface is approximately 37 ha: about 20 ha around Santo Stefano Belbo, 11 ha in Calosso and 6 ha in Canelli.
Some of the original partners eventually withdrew. The Ceretto and Scavino families remained together in the business. Giancarlo Scavino died in 1995, after which his sons Gianpiero and Andrea continued his work and upheld his values.
1989: a new bottle and label
After the wine gained recognition, the families decided to give it a distinctive visual identity. In 1989 they asked Italian designer Giacomo Bersanetti to rethink both the label and the bottle. Cesare Pavese—born in Santo Stefano Belbo—and his novel The Moon and the Bonfires supplied the creative theme: the label became a moon, while the elongated bottle silhouette evoked a bonfire. The design formed part of the Ceretto family’s broader collaboration with leading Italian graphic designers on unconventional bottles and labels.
Organic certification and generational continuity
Organic certification followed in 2017. The agricultural approach associated with certification combines lower yields with careful selection in the vineyard. The project is now continued by the third Ceretto generation and the second Scavino generation, retaining its original focus on quality while incorporating new technical and environmental measures.
2023: lighter packaging and a new closure
Beginning with the 2023 harvest, packaging was reduced and the bottles were redesigned to lower their environmental impact. The full bottle fell in weight from 750 g to 650 g, while the half bottle fell from 500 g to 350 g. The flush cork associated with the project since 1976 was replaced by a screw cap chosen for functionality and easier service.
Terroir
I Vignaioli di Santo Stefano is based at Santo Stefano Belbo, a small Langhe town facing toward the Asti area and historically associated with Moscato. Its vineyards extend across three zones: approximately 20 ha in Santo Stefano Belbo, 11 ha in Calosso and 6 ha in Canelli. The expanded geographic base resulted from the gradual acquisition and selection of land beyond the original growers’ holdings.
A further hilly property associated historically with the enterprise was Tenuta San Maurizio, approximately 15 ha in the commune of Santo Stefano Belbo.
Vinificazione
The vineyards are devoted to Moscato and have been managed under certified-organic production since 2017. The quality strategy rests on restrained pruning, lower yields, cluster thinning, careful selection in the vineyard and selection during harvest. These measures directly address the project’s founding concern that excessive production had diminished Moscato quality.
Winemaking is designed to preserve the aromatic character of Moscato. Transfers, clarification and filtration are kept to the minimum considered necessary.
Moscato d’Asti is vinified exclusively in stainless-steel tanks. Asti Spumante begins from the same Moscato base wine and undergoes its prise de mousse in an autoclave; this process produces a sparkling wine bottled at 5 atmospheres.
From the 2023 harvest, both formats use screw caps. The change replaced the flush cork introduced by I Vignaioli in 1976 and was made to improve functionality and ease of service.
Filosofia
The founding aim was to reverse the effects of excessive, commercially driven Moscato production by putting quality ahead of quantity. The desired wine was to reflect its place of origin while remaining pleasurable to drink.
That objective is pursued through reduced yields, selection in the vineyard, restrained cellar processing and organic certification. The two families frame continuity and innovation as complementary: the third Ceretto generation and second Scavino generation retain the original quality objective while adopting measures such as lighter glass and more practical closures.