Isolabella Croce

Nineteenth-century origins

The family’s production history begins with Egidio Isolabella, born in Alessandria in 1835. He moved to Genoa while still young and developed an interest in aromas, fragrances, essences, medicinal plants and distilled products. After serving in the Second Italian War of Independence, he went to Milan, where Cesare Berutti introduced him to the art of balancing the herbs and spices used in vermouth.

Egidio developed a white vermouth based on Moscato. In 1870, Vermouth Bianco Isolabella High Life entered production in Milan. His business subsequently produced liqueurs as well as vermouth and earned prominent recognition. In 1906, Egidio served as a judge at the World Expo, while his company received recognition as a supplier to the Real Casa d’Italia.

Destruction and continuity

The business remained in family hands until the Second World War. Bombing destroyed its production facility in 1943, bringing production to a halt. The original High Life formula survived, however, and was handed down through successive generations.

Return to Loazzolo

In 2001, Lodovico Isolabella della Croce, his wife Maria Teresa and their children Luigi and Francesco revived the family’s connection with wine. They chose Loazzolo, a small municipality in the Langa Astigiana, as the home of a new agricultural estate intended both to preserve the family’s memory and to look toward the future. Their project became Borgo Isolabella and represented a change of life centred on patience, careful work and quality rather than merely the creation of a production site.

Inherited technical knowledge also informed the project. One family document singled out in this continuity is a university thesis on yeasts written by the family’s chemist grandfather. The new generation combined this transmitted knowledge with greater attention to environmental responsibility, identity and the future.

Vineyard development and experimentation

The estate planted the historic core of its Pinot Nero holdings, La Vigna Vecchia, in 2002–2003. La Vela followed in 2007–2008, including a low-yield French clone planted at unusually high density. A third and younger parcel, Il Mongarden, completed the three-part Pinot Nero vineyard structure.

In 2016, the estate developed the parcel-specific Pinot Nero projects Fra and Giotto. Giotto isolates La Vela, while Fra is associated with Il Mongarden. Another experimental Pinot Nero project, 1500, matured the equivalent of 1,500 bottles for two years in a 33 hl Vinooxygen vessel patented by estate oenologist Andrea Elegir.

Present estate

The family now cultivates both the area’s historic varieties and international grapes in Loazzolo and Calamandrana. Annual output is approximately 100,000 bottles. The original High Life vermouth has also returned at Borgo Isolabella: its modern interpretation retains the historic proportion of Moscato d’Asti and many of Egidio’s selected botanicals while adopting a lower alcoholic strength and a rounder profile.

Loazzolo

Isolabella della Croce occupies a natural amphitheatre in the high, rugged Langa Astigiana around Loazzolo. The central vineyard landscape lies at approximately 500–550 m, while individually described sites extend from about 450 m to 540 m; other Loazzolo holdings on the steep hills between the Belbo and Bormida are described at 400–450 m. Slopes can approach an 80% gradient, making verticality a defining physical condition of the estate.

Cool nights, ventilated days and pronounced diurnal temperature variation shape the microclimate. The highest Sauvignon Blanc site, at 540 m, experiences particularly marked temperature changes during August and September. Some slopes receive maritime breezes while remaining sheltered from the northern Tramontana winds.

The soils are predominantly calcareous and marly, mineral-rich and well drained. Individual descriptions add tuff and sand, while several sites are characterized by lean, poor calcareous ground. Roots can penetrate deeply into these draining soils.

Woodland encloses and protects the vineyards, forming a natural barrier and supporting a biodiverse landscape. Underground springs provide a constant supply of pure water even during dry periods. La Vela itself forms an amphitheatre embedded in the woods and faces toward the Val Bormida.

Calamandrana and Nizza Monferrato

The estate’s second viticultural centre is Calamandrana in Monferrato, where Barbera is grown for Barbera d’Asti and Nizza wines. The Barbera vineyards combine predominantly southern, south-eastern and south-western exposures with planting densities around 6,000 vines per hectare. Some Nizza-related holdings also extend into the commune of Nizza Monferrato.

Viticulture at Loazzolo is defined by steep ground, constrained yields and extensive manual work. Some slopes approach an 80% gradient, demanding precision, patience and experienced hands. The family regards continued cultivation as a form of landscape stewardship: without human intervention, the most difficult slopes would be vulnerable to abandonment and the surrounding Langhe landscape would lose part of its environmental and cultural structure.

The estate participates in the Consorzio del Moscato project for Vigneti Surì, which is intended to protect the area’s steepest and most valuable vineyard slopes. Organic production forms part of the contemporary approach.

Planting densities vary substantially according to site and variety. Identified vineyards range from 5,000 vines per hectare for high-altitude Sauvignon Blanc to 11,000 vines per hectare at La Vela. Stated yields range from 30 quintals per hectare for a mixed local-variety red to 70 quintals per hectare for certain Barbera, Riesling and sparkling-wine vineyards. La Vela’s parcel selection is limited to 35 quintals per hectare, while Il Mongarden’s Fra selection is given as 40 quintals per hectare.

Harvesting is manual, generally at full ripeness. Some lots receive bunch selection during picking. For Sauvignon Blanc, particular attention is paid to balancing technological and aromatic maturity because both premature and delayed harvesting can compromise its aromas and palate balance. Il Mongarden is harvested approximately 7–10 days after the other principal Pinot Nero parcels; full stem lignification can permit whole-cluster vinification.

Biodiversity and the surrounding forest are treated as integral components of the vineyard system. The estate measures CO₂ emissions, including those associated with road transport. It reports a credit balance because the woodland surrounding and protecting the vineyards offsets more carbon than the measured activity emits. Underground springs provide constant water resources during dry periods.

Harvest and reception

The estate uses manual harvesting, generally at full ripeness, with bunch selection for certain parcel wines. Red grapes may be destemmed and gently crushed; white grapes undergo crushing, destemming and soft pressing.

Red-wine fermentations

Vinification is adapted to grape variety and parcel. Horizontal fermenters are used for several reds, normally under controlled temperatures. Pinot Nero fermentation is described at 24–26 °C with gentle, slow punch-downs. Barbera can ferment at 26–28 °C in horizontal or vertical fermenters. Depending on the wine and variety, skin contact lasts 7–12 days.

For multi-variety reds, grapes may be vinified separately according to their different ripening dates. One sequence begins with Pinot Nero, followed by Merlot, Barbera and Cabernet Sauvignon. After 7–10 days of fermentation on the skins, the components are assembled in a single vessel for malolactic fermentation. Other blends preserve separate destemming, soft crushing, maceration and controlled-temperature fermentation for each constituent variety.

Vinooxygen and stainless steel

The patented Vinooxygen vessel is a distinctive cellar tool. In one Pinot Nero route, the wine is racked after reaching 7–8% alcohol: one portion moves to Vinooxygen to complete alcoholic fermentation, malolactic fermentation and slow maturation, while the other completes alcoholic and malolactic fermentation in stainless steel before transfer to barriques and tonneaux.

A 33 hl Vinooxygen vessel was used to mature the experimental 1500 Pinot Nero lot for two years. For Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling, flotation precedes transfer to Vinooxygen, where the must can remain without racking through bottling. This approach is intended to preserve aroma and minimize sulphite use.

Oak and lees work

Oak regimes vary across the range. Parcel Pinot Nero can complete alcoholic and malolactic fermentation in stainless steel before spending two years in 1,500-litre French-oak vessels. Other Pinot Nero components mature in barriques and tonneaux. Barbera may spend approximately 12 months in 25 hl French-oak casks, while Nizza can mature for approximately 18–24 months in small oak barrels.

For Chardonnay, temperature-controlled fermentation begins before the must is moved into barriques after two-thirds of fermentation. Nine months of bâtonnage follow. Traditional-method sparkling wine ferments first in temperature-controlled stainless steel, then undergoes secondary fermentation in bottle and remains on its lees for 48–60 months before disgorgement.

Bottling

Some young Barbera is bottled in the spring following harvest. Other reds receive additional maturation in bottle after their period in oak. The Vinooxygen route for selected whites is designed to avoid transfers until bottling.

The family presents Isolabella della Croce as a bridge between two periods: the historical world of Egidio Isolabella and the agricultural estate rebuilt at Loazzolo by later generations. Wine is intended to preserve family memory while expressing what the family has chosen to become through a renewed relationship with the land.

The Loazzolo project is framed as a deliberate return to patience, care and quality. In Luigi Isolabella’s reflection, the family’s arrival there roughly twenty-five years ago transformed the idea of research from travel toward distant places into daily, concrete investigation rooted in the soil. Loazzolo offered distance from the uniformity of modern life and renewed direct contact with nature, its fruit and its transformation.

Environmental responsibility is presented as stewardship rather than mastery. The woods, springs, biodiversity, vineyard slopes and inherited cultural landscape form one ecosystem, and human work is assigned the role of maintaining its balance. Preserving steep vineyards consequently means preserving both vines and the wider relationship among people, land and time.

In the cellar, the range combines inherited practice with technical experimentation. The family’s chemist grandfather’s work on yeasts symbolizes transmitted knowledge, while high-density planting, parcel vinification, whole-cluster trials and the patented Vinooxygen vessel represent the investigative side of the contemporary project. Vintage differences are retained rather than erased: blends may change with the harvest, and the three Pinot Nero parcels are vinified and matured separately before any final assembly so that their individual character remains legible.