About this wine
Vineyard and terroir
Pira is a historic vineyard in Castiglione Falletto, the central municipality of the Barolo production area. The site once belonged to the Falletti family and was connected to the castle by a private road. It became a monopole owned by the Roagna family when they acquired it in 1989.
Facing south-east on the Serralunga and Perno slope, the vineyard formed through the breakdown of the Rocche di Castiglione. Its soils are marine sediments dating to the Helvetian formation of the Tertiary period. Alternating strata include white limestone, grey marl, blue marl and sand, with a high mineral content that includes iron.
Seven hectares are planted to vines and another four hectares are woodland. The vineyard is protected by the Rocche di Castiglione above and woods below, where a stream descends from Bussia di Monforte. Six micro-parcels have different vine ages and soil compositions, ranging from limestone rock at the Rocca to bluish marl.
Grapes
Nebbiolo from vines more than 25 years old. The vines are exclusively of massal origin, propagated with material obtained while pruning old Pira vines. The wider Pira property also grows Barbera and Chardonnay, while Nebbiolo is the principal variety. Its oldest existing planting dates to 1937.
Vinification
The vineyard is picked by hand into small crates when physiological maturity is reached, judged through the ripeness of the seeds. Two manual selections precede vinification. Fermentation takes place for about ten days in wooden vats with a pied de cuve of indigenous yeasts, followed by traditional submerged-cap maceration lasting approximately 60–70 days.
Ageing
The wine matures for approximately five years in neutral oak and concrete vats.
Vintage notes
The first listed vintage is 1990, following the family’s acquisition of Pira in 1989. Published vintages continue through 2019, with 2006 absent from the sequence.