Orlando Abrigo

The grandparents’ generation and the family land

Giovanni Abrigo’s grandparents cultivated vineyards, sold grapes at the Alba market and sold wine in the nearby Piedmontese plain and Liguria. The family’s original holding comprised 3 hectares.

1949: Orlando loses his father

Orlando Abrigo was born in 1936 and was the family’s only child. In 1949, when he was 13, his father died. The family land was entrusted to a forward-looking sharecropper, who rationalized the holding and planted new vineyards in the hamlet of Cappelletto.

1960: winemaking alongside other work

After completing his studies, Orlando pursued other professions while continuing to vinify part of the grapes produced under the sharecropping arrangement.

1973: return to the land and the first estate Barbaresco

Orlando returned to work his own land in 1973. This was a counter-current decision at a time when salaried employment in the city offered greater economic security. The estate’s first bottle of Barbaresco was labeled that year. Orlando later recalled that Barbaresco was still so little known that people only 20 km away might not recognize the name.

1981: Barbaresco becomes DOCG

Barbaresco received DOCG recognition in 1981, an event Orlando continued to remember with joy and pride.

1986: Giovanni’s first harvest

Giovanni, the second of Orlando’s four children, managed his first harvest in 1986 while attending the fourth year of the Istituto Agrario Umberto I in Alba. He worked before and after classes and began applying his agricultural studies to the family estate.

1988: management passes to Giovanni

Giovanni completed the Umberto I secondary institute with a specialization in oenology in 1988. He then enrolled in a viticulture and oenology course, graduating as an oenologist several years later. Recognizing his preparation and commitment, Orlando transferred management of the estate to him that same year. Giovanni accepted on the condition that he would have decision-making authority and identified renewal of the equipment and cellar premises as the first priority.

1996: expansion into Montersino

The family bought its first vineyard in the Montersino cru in 1996. Until then, its Nebbiolo vineyards for Barbaresco had been confined to Meruzzano. The acquisition added a second Barbaresco MGA to the range, and 1996 became the first vintage of the estate’s Montersino bottling.

Vineyard expansion before the new cellar

The estate subsequently concentrated on acquiring vineyards, including Nebbiolo in Valmaggiore at Vezza d’Alba and Nebbiolo and Nascetta holdings around Neviglie and Neive. The vineyard estate ultimately grew from the original 3 hectares to 21 hectares under ownership.

2011: Rongalio becomes a Riserva

Beginning with the 2011 vintage, Barbaresco Rongalio—made only in selected vintages from the old Rongalio vineyard within Meruzzano—was released as a Riserva.

The new cellar

The architectural record dates construction of the approximately 1,000 m² cellar to 2009–2012, while the estate’s historical narrative places the completed new cellar in 2013. Giovanni Abrigo and architect Marco Ferreri conceived it as a place for preserving wine quality and character. Its low, readily conditioned rooms are largely underground, and the arrangement permits gravity-assisted movement during vinification, maturation and bottling. The project combined technical functionality with reduced environmental and landscape impact.

The estate today

Giovanni Abrigo now manages Orlando Abrigo with his collaborators. The family’s vineyard holding has expanded to 21 hectares, all owned by the estate.

Estate geography

The estate is based at Cappelletto in Treiso and owns vineyards across Treiso, Vezza d’Alba, Trezzo Tinella, Neviglie and Neive. The holdings range from approximately 180 to 500 metres above sea level. The winery stands at Settevie, the old name of a hamlet formed at the meeting point of seven roads.

Barbaresco MGAs

The estate’s two Barbaresco Menzioni Geografiche Aggiuntive are Meruzzano and Montersino, both in Treiso, the highest-elevation part of the Barbaresco growing area. The Nebbiolo sites occupy steep, rugged, predominantly south-facing slopes marked by deep gullies. Their pale soils are rich in limestone.

Meruzzano is the second-largest MGA in the Barbaresco denomination. Estate parcels extend from 380 to 449 metres for the Meruzzano bottling, while Rongalio lies at approximately 300 metres. Rongalio’s medium-textured, limestone-rich soil contains abundant iron and zinc and veins of silt and fine clay. Within the vineyard, the central ridge is poor and dry, while the lower section has richer, cooler soil.

Montersino lies at approximately 300–350 metres. Its south-facing position was already identified as particularly valuable by Lorenzo Fantini in 1879.

Other vineyard areas

Valmaggiore in Vezza d’Alba lies at 180–240 metres on very steep hills with sandy and silty soils. The gradients prevent tractor access. Roreto at Trezzo Tinella lies near 350 metres; its Barbera sites adjoin the Barbaresco territory. The Chardonnay and Nascetta sources at Cappelletto are around 400 metres, while the Sauvignon holdings at Cappelletto reach 450–500 metres. The estate also has vineyard parcels in Neviglie and Neive, including Nascetta at approximately 240 metres.

The estate owns 21 hectares of vineyards, developed from the family’s original 3 hectares. Individually described sites are Guyot-trained, with planting densities ranging from 4,000 to 8,000 vines/ha and stated yields from 40 to 70 q/ha, depending on variety and site.

Nebbiolo in the principal Barbaresco vineyards is generally planted at 4,500 vines/ha. Meruzzano and Montersino are pruned to 9–10 buds per vine and yield approximately 45–50 q/ha. Rongalio is pruned to 8–9 buds and yields 50–60 q/ha. The estate vinifies every parcel within each Barbaresco MGA separately and selects only the best lots for the final wines.

Valmaggiore is the most explicitly manual site. Its steep, sandy hills cannot be reached by tractors or other vineyard machinery, so all vineyard work is performed by hand. The vines are planted at 8,000 vines/ha, with 0.8 m between vines and 1.4 m between rows. They are Guyot-pruned to 6–8 buds, yielding 50–60 q/ha and 38–40 hl/ha.

The Roreto Barbera source is south-facing, Guyot-pruned to 6–8 buds and planted at 4,500 vines/ha, with a stated yield of 40 q/ha. Cappelletto Chardonnay and Nascetta are planted at 4,000 vines/ha and yield 60 q/ha. Sauvignon is planted at 4,500 vines/ha and yields 60–70 q/ha. A French Sauvignon clone was selected for the cooler, northeast-facing Trezzo Tinella parcel.

Cellar design and movement

The cellar is conceived as a place for preserving the quality and character of the wines. Low-ceilinged rooms are readily conditioned, and most of the approximately 1,000 m² structure is buried in the hill. Its layout facilitates gravity-assisted movement through vinification, maturation and bottling.

Reception and selection

Grapes arrive in 20 kg crates. They are emptied onto a selection table and conveyed to an oscillating destemmer, which separates the berries precisely from the stalks.

Fermentation and maceration

Crushed grapes are transferred to stacked, temperature-controlled stainless-steel tanks. Fermentation and maceration proceed exclusively with indigenous yeasts. Extraction includes gentle délestage: the must descends by gravity to the lower tank and is returned to the upper tank with pumps and recovered fermentation gas.

Racking and settling

After racking, wine moves into the tanks below and rests for the time needed for lees to settle.

Maturation and storage

Wood maturation takes place in conditioned rooms where temperature, humidity and air exchange are controlled to support slow, measured development. The cellar uses wooden vessels of different origins and sizes according to the vintage and cru. Barbaresco parcels within each MGA are vinified and matured separately, followed by selection of the best lots. Bottling and bottle storage are incorporated into the gravity-oriented cellar workflow.