Today's Cantina Sociale dei Produttori del Barbaresco, founded in 1958, has long been regarded as one of the most pestigious wineries in the area and an example for modern cooperatives; but its history, closely linked to that of wine, is much older.
In the second half of the last century, in the Barbaresco area, Nebbiolo wine was cultivated and sold to produce the then emerging Barolo, vinified as Nebbiolo or generic table wine.
1894 was a fundamental historical date for Barbaresco when Domizio Cavazza, headmaster of the Royal Oenological School of Alba and Barbaresco resident, where he owned the Castle and adjoining farm, created the "Cantine Sociali di Barbaresco" for the "production of luxury and table wines". Gathering around him initially 9 farmers and producers, he began to vinify and name the wine after the village itself.
That the Nebbiolo grown in Barbaresco had its own distinctive characteristics was known, but Cavazza was the first to recognise this on the label. The official birth year of Barbaresco wine was therefore 1894.
The original Cantina Sociale was closed during the Fascist era. In 1958, just after the difficulties of the early post-war period had been overcome, Don Fiorino, then parish priest of Barbaresco, reverting to that tradition, brought together 19 farmers and founded the "Produttori del Barbaresco" for "the qualification and guarantee of Barbaresco".
Aim fully achieved and constantly and tenaciously pursued until today thanks to the dedication and work of the winegrowers who created it.
Today, the "Produttori del Barbaresco" has 56 members and about 100 hectares of Nebbiolo vineyards, equal to about 1/6 of the entire area of origin. The "Produttori del Barbaresco" vinifies exclusively Nebbiolo grapes and controls a large part of the historical "crus" of the area with its vineyards.