La Spinetta Campè

Family background

La Spinetta Campè grew from the farming tradition established by Giuseppe “Pin” Rivetti and his wife, Lidia. Their children Carlo, Bruno, Giorgio and Giovanna later assumed responsibility for the family business, carrying forward their parents’ emphasis on Piedmont, indigenous varieties and close attention to the land.

2000: entry into Barolo

In 2000, Giorgio Rivetti acquired a winery in Grinzane Cavour with his brothers Carlo and Bruno, fulfilling the family’s ambition to produce Barolo. The holding comprised approximately 8 contiguous hectares near the castle of Grinzane Cavour. Giorgio had identified the zone as capable of combining the qualities associated with Piedmont’s most distinguished Barolo crus.

A dedicated cellar and a residence were subsequently constructed in Grinzane Cavour, establishing a second Piedmontese base for the family. The estate became known as La Spinetta Campè, after the selected Campè sector within the broader Garretti vineyard.

First Campè and Garretti releases

The current chronology begins Barolo Campè with the 2000 vintage. From the outset, Giorgio, Carlo and Bruno also conceived a limited Riserva in magnum, based on selected fruit. Barolo Garretti followed with its first vintage in 2001, giving the broader vineyard a separate expression alongside the Campè selection.

Campè occupies the upper and central portion of Garretti, regarded by the family as the cru’s finest section. The distinction between the two wines therefore reflects selection within one connected vineyard environment rather than two unrelated sites.

The Campè cellar today

The Grinzane Cavour cellar now produces Barolo Campè DOCG, Barolo Garretti DOCG, Langhe Nebbiolo DOC, Barbera d’Alba Gallina Superiore DOC and Barbaresco Gallina DOCG. It also houses the One Liter Club, whose format was revived in 2011 to renew an older Piedmontese bottling tradition and strengthen direct contact between the family and private clients. The club merged with the Wine Tender community in 2021. Visits to Campè are reserved for club members.

Viticulture is treated as the primary determinant of wine quality. The estate works exclusively with organic farming methods and regards the vineyards as a resource to be preserved beyond the tenure of the current generation.

Chemical and artificial fertilisers, herbicides, pesticides, growth hormones and genetically modified organisms are excluded. All grapes are harvested by hand. Older vines are valued despite their naturally lower production because their fruit is considered more concentrated and capable of conveying the consistency and complexity of its microclimate and soil.

Low yields are maintained through a green harvest, normally between July and August. Unripe bunches are removed so that the remaining clusters can concentrate the identity of the site. Yield does not exceed 30 hl/ha.

Harvest timing is not fixed mechanically. The Rivetti brothers use sensory assessment and accumulated experience to adapt work and picking decisions to changing climatic conditions, aiming to preserve vineyard identity and balance.

The organic programme was described as deliberately uncertified in 2014. The family’s position was that intensive manual work, healthy soils and fruit quality mattered more than using certification as a marketing claim.

The red wines assigned to the Campè cellar share a general production framework centred on controlled fermentation and French oak.

Maceration and alcoholic fermentation normally take place in temperature-controlled vats for approximately 14–15 days. Malolactic fermentation follows in French oak barrels. Depending on the bottling, the cellar uses second- and third-use barrels as well as a limited proportion of new oak. Wood maturation and subsequent bottle ageing vary with the wine and vintage.

The wider cellar policy excludes concentration by cooling, dealcoholisation, physical removal of sulphur dioxide, electrodialysis and cation exchangers. Thermal treatments above 70°C and nanofiltration are not used. Synthetic additives are avoided, natural yeasts are used, and top wines are bottled without filtration.

Sulphur dioxide is used judiciously rather than rejected entirely. Careful vineyard work, healthy grapes and strict cellar hygiene are employed to minimise the amount required while protecting ageing capacity. Lunar phases are considered when wine is moved in the cellar and when bottling takes place.

The underlying principle is that cellar manipulation cannot replace fruit quality. Human attention, hygiene and experienced tasting remain central to decisions throughout production.

The central conviction is that an exceptional grape is the essential basis of an exceptional wine. Work is therefore directed first toward the vineyards, which are tended with dedication and with the expectation that they should remain healthy for future generations.

The family prioritises soil, microclimate and grape origin. Indigenous varieties are favoured because they are considered the most direct means of expressing provenance. Old vines are particularly valued: although they produce less fruit, their grapes are associated with greater concentration and a clearer transmission of site.

Low yields are not treated as an end in themselves but as a way to focus the plant’s resources into a small number of clusters. Vineyard identity, balance and adaptation to each season take precedence over a fixed formula.

The environmental approach borrows from organic, biodynamic and natural philosophies without treating any label as a guarantee of quality. The family places equal emphasis on the human factor: sustained manual attention in the vineyard, rigorous hygiene in the cellar and the judgement of an experienced palate.

Winemaking is intended to preserve rather than manufacture the character of the fruit. The family rejects heavy manipulation but accepts measured technical choices—including limited sulphur use—when they protect purity and long-term ageing.