History
Family roots since 1920
Azienda Agricola Pietro Rinaldi stands in Madonna di Como, on the hills above Alba. The family’s documented connection with this property reaches back to 1920, when great-grandfather Pietro and grandfather Costanzo were already producing Nebbiolo, Barbera and Moscato.
Costanzo devoted his working life to the family’s land, vineyards and cellar. Regina Rinaldi’s recollections preserve a detail of the old Moscato-making practice: jute sacks were used to filter a dense, very sweet, straw-coloured wine likened to honey. After bottling, pressure could occasionally eject a cork during the night and wake the household.
Continuity across generations
Wine production has continued for more than four generations. Successive generations have maintained the family’s inherited practices and respect for natural and working cycles while introducing innovation and modern cellar technology. Vineyard improvement and attentive vinification form part of this continuing pursuit of quality.
A new hillside cellar
A more recently built cellar was constructed against the hillside and is partly underground. It introduced temperature-controlled fermentation tanks, gentle roller destemming intended to preserve the berries, and low-pressure pneumatic pressing. The construction date is not recorded.
Contemporary environmental direction
The estate subsequently adopted the Green Experience framework, a project created to protect the UNESCO-listed hills of Langhe, Roero and Monferrato. Its vineyard programme includes permanent vegetation, green manure, mating disruption, the elimination of chemical herbicides, support for native biodiversity and externally certified traceability. The date of adoption is not recorded.
Terroir
The winery is based at Madonna di Como on the hills of Alba, with steep vineyards surrounding Cascina Cichetta. Its vineyard geography extends beyond Alba to Neive, Verduno and parts of Roero, including Canale d’Alba.
The recurring geological profile is calcareous clay with white marl over a hard, compact substrate of grey clay. The estate associates the common identity of its wines with these soils while attributing their variations to the geological individuality and long-term movements of each site.
Exposures vary by vineyard. Alba’s Nebbiolo sites face southwest at 280–300 m. Monpiano faces southeast at 280–340 m, while the old Bricco Cichetta vineyard occupies a hilltop at 300–340 m with a 360-degree exposure. The Madonna di Como Dolcetto vineyard faces southeast at 280–300 m. Local Arneis and Moscato sites face east; the Moscato vineyards rise to 340–380 m. Verduno’s Barolo vineyards face southwest at approximately 300 m. San Cristoforo at Neive faces southeast and curves through 360 degrees around a hilltop of the type locally called a bricco.
No estate-level climate, rainfall, temperature-range or hydrological data are recorded.
Winemaking
The vineyard programme is organised around the Green Experience framework and its ten principles: environmentally compatible and sustainable viticulture and production; protection of biodiversity and the natural environment; aesthetic protection of both natural and human-shaped landscapes; priority for agronomic solutions and soil stewardship; elimination of chemical herbicides within the rows; sowing herbaceous and flowering species; encouragement of pollinating insects; installation of bird nests that support ecological balance; respect and honesty toward consumers; and traceable controls backed by external certification.
Permanent vegetation is maintained between the rows. Vineyard work is carried out mechanically or by hand without herbicides or synthetic products, respecting biological and vegetative cycles. Green manure fertilises the ground and is intended to maintain a rich, living soil with active microorganisms. Mating disruption is also part of the more sustainable plant-protection programme.
The guiding objective is to help nature regenerate through natural inputs while supporting native biodiversity and an ecosystem capable of sustaining healthy, resilient vines. Cluster thinning is severe in the Nebbiolo, Barbera and Dolcetto sites for which yield data are given. Manual harvest is expressly recorded for the Verduno Nebbiolo and Madonna di Como Moscato vineyards; Nebbiolo for the rosato is harvested and sorted by hand.
Cellar and fruit handling
The recently built cellar rests against the hillside and is partly underground. All fermentation tanks are temperature controlled. Grapes are destemmed with a gentle roller system intended to preserve berry integrity, while pressing uses a low-pressure pneumatic press.
Red-wine production
Nebbiolo and Barbera reds are crushed and fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel, generally for about 10–12 days at 26–30°C, with frequent pump-overs or rackings. Dolcetto ferments for 8–10 days at 24–26°C. Malolactic fermentation follows for these reds.
Ageing varies according to the intended expression. Barbaresco spends 16–18 months in 25-hl large Slavonian-oak casks. The principal Barolo is matured for 18 months in large oak casks and then rests horizontally in bottle for at least 6–8 months before release. Langhe Nebbiolo matures for 12 months in 500-litre oak tonneaux. The old-vine Barbera selection spends 12 months in 25-hl Slavonian-oak casks, while the fresher Barbera rests for 12 months in stainless steel. Dolcetto remains in stainless steel for six months.
White-wine production
Arneis is vinified white after destemming and gentle pressing, followed by temperature-controlled fermentation at 10–12°C. Vigne di Hortensia remains on fine lees for two to three months, with weekly circulation to suspend the natural yeast sediment; it is subsequently racked, filtered for clarity and colour, and bottled. The Bâtonnage expression remains with its primary-fermentation lees in stainless steel for approximately 12 months, with periodic stirring. Its English technical description adds that the wine is cooled to 4–5°C after alcoholic fermentation to prevent malolactic fermentation. It then receives at least six months of bottle ageing.
Moscato and rosato
Moscato ferments at 18°C in vessels with temperature and pressure control. Fermentation is regulated by cooling the must and by subsequent sterile filtration.
The current Italian rosato material describes white-wine vinification through destemming, gentle pressing and fermentation at 10–12°C, followed by two to three months on fine lees before racking, filtration and bottling. The English version instead records hand harvesting and sorting, gentle pressing for free-run juice, inoculation with selected yeast, stainless-steel fermentation at 18°C for 8–10 days without malolactic fermentation, and three to four months on light lees with weekly stirring before transfers, filtration and bottling.
Philosophy
The estate defines wine as the result of a relationship among soil, vineyard and microclimate; cultural memory and manual work; oenological science and the cellar worker’s practical knowledge. Its sense of responsibility begins with the aptitude of the Langhe for viticulture and with the steep vineyards surrounding the winery.
Terroir is understood as a source of both shared identity and site-specific nuance. Differences among soils, local traditions, grape varieties, latitudes and longitudes are to be respected rather than standardised. The stated aim is to join the memory of tradition with modern technology.
Within the Green Experience approach, cultivation and vinification should be guided by people but neither manipulated nor forced through synthetic products. The vine is treated as already possessing the essentials needed to make wine; human work should help nature regenerate, support the native ecosystem and biodiversity, and encourage healthy, resistant vines. Great wine is consequently linked to great terroir, and that terroir should remain as uncontaminated as possible.
Family continuity is equally central: newer generations carry forward the work and memories of Pietro and Costanzo with both dedication and innovation, maintaining a deliberate connection between past and future.