Storia
The Gianni Voerzio legacy
Voerzio Martini represents the continuation of the Gianni Voerzio winery of La Morra. This earlier estate provides the historical foundation for the present business, although no dates or details of the transition are given.
Voerzio Martini
The present company is described as a new enterprise rooted in that earlier history. Its identity is built around the meeting of accumulated experience and innovative ideas, with Mirko and Federica Martini—the “Barolo twins”—running its technical, agronomic, commercial, administrative and hospitality activities. Vineyard management, environmental respect and modern cellar technology form the operational basis of the project.
Terroir
The vineyards extend across La Morra, Barolo, Verduno and Serralunga, in sites selected for their historical standing and sunny positions. The named Barolo crus are La Serra, Cerequio and Monvigliero.
Technical descriptions span elevations from 280 to 440 metres. The soils vary by site. La Morra vineyards associated with Barbera, Nebbiolo and Moscato are characterised by the Marne di Sant’Agata, a mixture of clay, very fine sand and calcareous material. La Serra is specified as 55% clay, 30% sand and 15% limestone. Other La Morra holdings include tuff with small proportions of sand, or tuff with sand and clay. The Arneis site at Castellinaldo d’Alba is sandy, while the Timorasso site has silty-calcareous soil.
Exposures range from east and southeast to south, southwest and west. The highest specified site, at 440 metres, faces southeast; La Serra lies at 430 metres with southwest exposure. The generic Barolo source vineyards in La Serra and Boiolo lie at approximately 400 metres and face south to southeast. Lower sites include the Freisa vineyard at 310 metres, the Arneis vineyard at 280 metres and the Moscato vineyard at 350 metres.
Vinificazione
Vineyard work is presented as careful, plant-centred and respectful of the environment. The estate has substantially increased the ratio of leaf surface to bunches over the past 30 years in the vineyards for which this practice is described, seeking better fruit quality through a larger photosynthetic surface and a deliberately restricted crop.
Selection takes place chiefly in the vineyard throughout fruit set, veraison and ripening. Manual thinning is repeated according to the parcel and variety: two passes for Moscato, approximately two for Timorasso, three for Freisa and Dolcetto, three to four for the generic Barolo source vineyards, and four to five for La Serra, Barbera and Langhe Nebbiolo. The objective is to reduce production per hectare and obtain evenly developed bunches with homogeneous ripeness. Arneis is also thinned manually so that only the best fruit proceeds to full maturity.
Harvesting is manual. Grapes are collected in small crates or baskets to avoid compression and berry breakage before crushing. All technically described vineyards use Guyot training, with planting densities of 5,000 vines/ha for Arneis and Timorasso and 6,000 vines/ha for the other documented sites.
Cellar organisation
The cellar was built using modern insulation and energy-saving techniques and is divided into three functional sections. Pressing and vinification take place in areas fitted with modern equipment. Bottled wine rests in storage under controlled temperature and humidity. A separate ageing area contains French oak barriques and tonneaux together with Slavonian oak casks.
Fruit reception and oxygen management
Fruit is harvested by hand into small containers to prevent crushing in the vineyard. Several protocols use dry ice during a 12-hour cold maceration. Besides lowering temperature, the released carbon dioxide protects the must from oxygen while encouraging extraction of aromatic and colouring compounds.
Operations after alcoholic fermentation are generally conducted under nitrogen protection, in some cases explicitly through bottling. This approach is intended to preserve aromas and colour while reducing the need for sulfites.
Red-wine methods
Nebbiolo and Barbera ferment in stainless-steel tanks with an emerged cap, controlled temperature and managed oxygenation. Published fermentation periods generally fall between 14 and 20 days. Dolcetto ferments in stainless steel with cap management, temperature control and racking, followed by a short maturation in steel and natural settling rather than wood ageing.
Freisa receives a 12-hour dry-ice cold maceration before fermentation in stainless steel with temperature control. It is lightly matured in steel, settles naturally and undergoes a natural refermentation in tank, with no wood ageing.
After malolactic fermentation, Barolo protocols use 500-litre French oak tonneaux, 60% new and 40% second-use, for approximately 24–30 months. One protocol also includes a final six-month assemblage in 25-hl French oak casks before bottling. La Serra follows the same general tonneaux regime. Langhe Nebbiolo matures for approximately 6–8 months in 500-litre French oak tonneaux with the same 60:40 division between new and second-use oak; a final period of assemblage in stainless steel precedes bottling. Barbera matures after malolactic fermentation for 6–8 months in 250-litre French oak barriques, likewise 60% new and 40% second-use.
White and aromatic-wine methods
Arneis and Timorasso receive a 12-hour dry-ice cold maceration, followed by alcoholic fermentation at 15–16°C in stainless steel under oxygen-limiting conditions. The Timorasso protocol uses no stated wood-ageing stage.
Moscato is softly pressed in a pneumatic press and undergoes cold maceration with dry ice. After cold static settling, the clear must is racked to a clean autoclave and fermented at approximately 15–16°C. Fermentation is stopped at about 5% alcohol by chilling to 0°C, while the sealed vessel retains naturally produced carbon dioxide. Cold stabilisation is followed by sterile microfiltration and bottling with an isobaric filler to preserve the natural perlage.
Filosofia
Voerzio Martini defines its approach through the meeting of experience and innovative ideas. Its quality objective rests on close vineyard management, respect for the plants and deliberate control of crop quantity rather than high yields.
Environmental respect is presented as part of the operating context. In practice, this is expressed through energy-conscious cellar construction, careful vineyard work, manual selection, protection of fruit integrity at harvest and oxygen-management techniques designed to preserve wine while limiting sulfite use.
The project also treats continuity and innovation as complementary. The historical experience of the Gianni Voerzio winery is carried into a new company managed by Mirko and Federica Martini, while modern insulation, cellar technology, temperature control, dry ice, nitrogen and isobaric bottling are used alongside established vineyard practices and oak ageing.