Cappellano

The story of our vineyard begins with my great-great-grandfather, the notary Filippo Cappellano, a rich landowner with a passion for wine, who, at the age of 48, founded the company, bringing together 150 giornate piemontesi (corresponding to about 60 hectares) into one estate of farmland. When he died, his son Giovanni, an enologist, succeeded him in managing the company; he renovated the vineyard, and he built two hotels in Alba and in Serralunga, with all the best facilities available for the tourism of Liguria and Piemonte. He created the famous “grape cure” in Serralunga, establishing a transport service by horse and carriage from the train station of Alba.

My grandfather Francesco Augusto Cappellano, an oenologist, followed his ancestors’ footsteps in passing on the baton to his son Teobaldo, my father, at the end of the 1960s. After his childhood in Eritrea, Teobaldo took the helm of the company and changed it dramatically: much smaller in size and highest quality control, following very specific guidelines.

With his characteristic tact and perseverance, he long fought against the prejudices which afflicted Barolo Chinato. After years of struggle, he succeeded in his intent to reinstate the elixir to the prestige it is entitled to and which boasts now. He accomplished this by jealously protecting, in bad times and in good times, his ancestor’s recipe and the product’s artisanal nature.

And today, while I grind the spices with the very same tools my great-uncle used, I can call myself proud to hold in my own hands the synthesis of a century and a half of my family’s history.