Simone Scaletta

2002: collaboration with Stefano Frassetto

A chance meeting in 2002 led to a friendship and creative collaboration between Simone Scaletta and artist Stefano Frassetto. Frassetto, a versatile illustrator and wine enthusiast, developed special labels intended to express both the spirit of the cellar and the individual character of its wines. The collaboration established illustration as a distinctive element of the winery’s visual identity.

The vineyards and cellar are in Monforte d'Alba, among the rounded hills of Langa. The tasting area lies above the cellar and beside a vineyard, with a view toward Monviso.

The documented vineyard soils vary by site. Several south- and south-west-facing plots have loam-clay soils, while the south-east-facing Nebbiolo sites associated with Madama and Professur have silt-clay soils. At Bussia, the soil is compact limestone-clay interlayered with sand. The Bricco San Pietro vineyard associated with Barolo Chirlet is described as crescent-shaped.

Viticulture is organized around close, daily observation of the vines and their natural rhythms. Simone Scaletta rejects work governed solely by a fixed calendar: interventions are made in response to each small need as it arises. His approach treats differences in grape variety, soil and climatic conditions as factors requiring site-specific decisions rather than a uniform protocol applied across dissimilar situations.

Documented yields are 7,500 kg/ha for the Dolcetto and Barbera vineyards, 7,000 kg/ha for the south-east-facing Nebbiolo vineyards associated with Madama and Professur, 5,500 kg/ha for the Barolo Chirlet and Bussia sites, and 5,000 kg/ha for the Barolo Riserva selection in Bricco San Pietro.

The must undergoes spontaneous fermentation, with temperature control as the principal stated technical intervention. The wines are racked gently and only when strictly necessary. They are not filtered, preserving the individual expression of each wine and allowing differences between vintages to remain visible rather than standardizing them away.

Simone Scaletta’s philosophy places observation and responsiveness above standardized scheduling. He seeks to follow the natural rhythm of the vines, caring for them every day and intervening when conditions require it. In his view, a predetermined protocol applied indiscriminately across different places cannot adequately account for the variability of soils, grape varieties and climatic circumstances and therefore does not represent fully conscious wine production.

The same principle carries into the cellar through spontaneous fermentation, restrained temperature control, gentle racking only when necessary and the avoidance of filtration. The objective is not to erase variation but to preserve the identity of each wine.

Vintage differences are treated as an asset. Simone Scaletta regards the slight changes in character from one year to the next as expressions of natural diversity and variability—qualities that wine can retain and communicate to the drinker. The estate’s guiding idea joins forward-looking ambition with respect for the past: making a great wine means imagining the future while keeping the heart connected to history.