The Produttori del Barbaresco is a winery cooperative in the town of Barbaresco.
It was founded in 1958 and is known as one of the best wineries for quality and value
in the Langhe region of Italy.
Produttori makes a Langhe Nebbiolo and a basic Barbaresco in almost every vintage.
In very good vintages, they make single-vineyard Cru Barbarescos,
almost always as Barbaresco Riserva. Sine 1982, there are nine such Crus.
Their policy is to make all the nine single-vineyard wines or none of them in a given vintage.
If you are interested in how many bottles of each wine have been made in each year,
see my Produttori del Barbaresco Quantity Chart.
This is a table similar to the FWG Table of all Produttori del Barbaresco Barbarescos,
but giving the number of bottles made of the cru riservas (both 750ml and magnum) in each vintage
in which they were made.
Starting with the 1982 vintage, there are nine such Cru wines.
The nine Crus (i.e. special single vineyards) that are bottled by the Produttori are:
Asili, Moccagatta (known as "Muncagöta" starting with the 2007 vintage, see below),
Montefico, Montestefano, Ovello, Pajé, Pora, Rabajà, Rio Sordo.
History and Notes
Below are some notes on the wines bottled by the winery with an emphasis on special or unusual bottling.
We first give a brief history of the winery.
Some additional information can be found on the
winery website.
Also, an in-depth article by John Gilman in his
View From the Cellar entitled
The Produttori del Barbaresco: The Wine World's Most Amazing Cooperative
(Jul/Aug 2009, Issue #22) is very informative and is
reproduced here with permission.
Here also is a
nice
video from In-Wine which gives a basic introduction to Barbaresco and the Produttori.
(The second half of this video shows a tasting of the 2007 Barbaresco.)
Quantities
Quantity Chart. This is a chart similar to the one above,
but giving the number of bottles made of the riservas (both 750ml and magnum)
in each vintage in which they were made.
History
Name: The full name of the winery is Cantina Sociale dei Produttori del Barbaresco,
though it is widely referred to as Produttori del Barbaresco,
or even just Produttori.
I believe the legal name in Italian is
Produttori del Barbaresco Società Agricola Cooperativa a Barbaresco,
the last part of which is abbreviated on the label as S.a.c. Barbaresco.
Prior to the 2000 vintage, the legal name was
Produttori del Barbaresco Società Cooperativa Responsabilità Limitata Barbaresco,
the last part of which was abbreviated on the label as Soc. Coop. R.L. Barbaresco.
The first Cooperative (founded in 1894):
In 1888, Domizio Cavazza moved from Emilia-Romagna to be the first headmaster of the
Regia Scuola Enologica di Alba (the Royal Enological School of Alba),
the first enological school in Italy.
The school was founded primarily to save Italian vineyards from phylloxera
which was spreading rapidly through France at this time.
Cavazza was a viticulturist and agronomist trained
in France at the Institut National Agronomique in Versailles and the
École Nationale d'Agriculture in Montpellier.
Cavazza developed a treatment for phylloxera consisting of 720g of copper sulfate
infused into one hectolitre of lime-saturated water, a forumla thereafter known as
"Cavazza's Formula."
In 1885 Cavazza married Amalia Vitali from Carpeneto in the province of Alessandria.
In 1894, using funds from his wife's dowry, he bought the castle of Barbaresco and
portions of the Casotto and Pora vineyards. He eventually sold the Casotto vineyard
parcel along with the farmhouse to Aldo Vacca's grandfather, Natale Vacca.
Today, the castle is owned by Gaja.
Here are photos of the castle outside and inside that I took in 2016:
You can find many more toward the end of
my Gaja visit report from July 2016.
Cavazza spent the rest of his life studying the grapes and soil of
Barbaresco. Cavazza died on 9 August 1913 and is buried in the local cemetery.
Motivated by his belief that Barbaresco could produce special wine,
he started the first cooperative, the Cantine Sociali di Barbaresco,
in 1894. Initially, there were nine farmers (including Aldo Vacca's great-grandfather
and the wine was made in the local castle (owned by Cavazza).
Cavazza was a pioneer in recognizing the unique character of Barbaresco.
However, before labeling their wine "Barbaresco", he asked to have the town
of Barbaresco included in the Barolo designation, but this was rejected,
so he "invented" Barbaresco.
The Cantine was the first to designate its wine as Barbaresco on its label.
Sadly, during the early days of the fascist rule of Benito Mussolini (the 1920's),
this socialist co-op was shut down by the government.
According to Celestino Vacca (the first managing director of the modern coop),
this combined with the two world wars led to a period of dormancy in Barbaresco
where nothing changed.
This first co-op was commemorated in 1994 by the current co-op with a
special edition of 1990 Barbaresco
which has a photo of Domizio Cavazza on the label.
The current Cooperative (founded in 1958):
The idea of a cooperative of Barbaresco vineyard owners was revived in 1958
by the Barbaresco village priest, Don Fiorino Marengo.
He was trying to stop the flow of young people leaving the village due to lack of work.
The first few vintages were produced in the basement of the rectory on the west side of
the church, before the current winery was built across the street on the east side of
the church.
By the 1950s, the large houses in Barolo such as Fontanafredda and Bersano were
buying all the grapes in Barbaresco and turning them all into plain Barbaresco.
There was no differentiation for the higher quality grapes grown higher up on
the hillsides. Don Fiorino Marengo felt that if they made their own wine of
high quality, the growers would make much more money.
The first few vintages were produced in the basement of the rectory on the west side of
the church. By 1961, the current winery was built across the street on the east side of
the church. Here is photo of the winery I took in 2016 with my back to the church:
President:
The first president of the Co-op (and also a grower) was Riccardo Cravanzola,
whose family still owns vines in Ovello. He was president from 1958 to 1986.
His grandson, Luca Cravanzola, works in the winery now in sales and marketing.
Celestino Vacca was the president from 1986 to 1998.
Below is a photo of Celestino Vacca (left) & Riccardo Cravanzola taken in 2004
(courtesy of the winery) and
a photo of Luca Cravanzola with a 1959 Barbaresco Riserva magnum (taken by me in 2016):
Managing Director:
Starting in 1958, Celestino Vacca was the part-time Managing Director of the Produttori.
He was made full-time Managing Director in 1972. He was selected to be Managing Director
because he had gone to college. The other members were farmers with only a grade school education.
He stepped down as Managing Director in 1984 and became Produttori's president from 1986 to 1998.
Celestino was replaced as Managing Director by Giancarlo Montaldo,
who served until 1990.
The current Managing Director (since 1991) is Celestino's son, Aldo Duccio Vacca.
Before he held this position, Aldo had worked for Angelo Gaja.
Aldo was born on November 1, 1958.
In "The Making of a Great Wine: Gaja and Sori San Lorenzo" by Edward Steinberg,
it says that Celestino Vacca fought in the resistance in WWII and was captured by the Germans.
He was put in a concentration camp. At one point, he got very sick and would have died if the
Americans hadn't liberated the camp and given him an antibiotic.
In March 2012, Aldo told me his father is 87 years old, still drinking Barbaresco
with lunch and dinner, and doing quite well.
Winemaker:Roberto Macaluso worked for the Produttori as a consulting winemaker
from 1976 to 1984. He had an enology degree and basically
just checked to make sure there were no technical flaws in the wines.
The first full-time winemaker, Giorgio Barbero, was hired by the Produttori in 1984.
He introduced some modern techniques such as shorter fermentations.
The members were not happy with the results, so in 1986, he was replaced
by the current winemaker, Gianni Testa, who had just graduated from enology school.
Cellar Master: The first full-time cellar master, Giorgio Rocca, was among the
founding families of the Produttori. He started in 1958 and retired in 1978.
He was selected for this position because he had a severe limp that limited his
ability to work in the vineyards.
He was succeeded by Franco Giordano, who had become his assistant in 1972.
In 2008, Franco Giordano retired and was replaced by Giulio Occhiena.
The Board: The managing director makes the day to day decisions, but long-term
decisions are made by the Board which consists of nine members who are elected by
the full membership. The managing director meets with the Board once a month.
Members: As of March 2012, there are 52 members who own 100 hectares (250 acres) of
Nebbiolo vineyards in the Barbaresco appellation.
In the beginning (1958), there were only 19 members.
That number has been as high as 66 members around 1990.
When a member's wine contributes to a cru bottling, their family name is listed
on the back label, though no initials are used and many families have the same last name,
e.g. Vacca, Boffa, Alutto.
However, if for some reason, the wine from a family is left out of the final blend in
one year, their name will still be included on the back label.
The Wines
Nebbiolo Langhe DOC: From the
winery website:
This wine is produced every year by the Produttori del Barbaresco;
it ranges from 10 to 30% of the total production depending on the quality of the vintage
(the better the vintage is the less Nebbiolo is produced).
It is a second label for the Barbaresco and it is made with the grapes from young vines or
those vineyards that produced a less intense and concentrated juice.
It still has the quality necessary to be classified as Barbaresco, but
the Winery declassifies it in order to sell it at a younger age and
maintain the Barbaresco quality as high as possible.
I could not have said it better myself! I believe the first vintage for this wine was 1975.
Barbaresco DOCG Normale: All the nebbiolo vineyards of the Produttori
are in the Barbaresco DOCG zone.
In fact, the 10 cru wines produced over the years (the 9 current crus plus Martinenga in 1967)
are all in the commune of Barbaresco.
However, the members of the Produttori do own some parcels in vineyards in other Barbaresco
communes such as in Gallina in Neive and Pajorè in Treiso.
The full list of vineyards where the Produttori own vines (as of 2010) is Basarin, Bordini,
Bric - Micca, Cole, Cottà, Faset, Gaia - Principe, Gallina, Marcarini, Meruzzano,
Montaribaldi, Pajorè, Roncagliette, San Cristoforo, Secondine, Tre Stelle, and Vicenziana.
So far, the grapes from these parcels have always been blended into the Barbaresco normale.
Thus, even in years when the 9 crus are bottles separately, grapes from outstanding sites
are still included in the base Barbaresco.
Note that this bottling is sometimes referred to informally as "torre" because of the
prominence of the Barbaresco tower in the drawing on the label.
The Crus: The coop produced its first single vineyard cru bottlings
in 1967. That year there were only five Cru bottlings:
a Martinenga that was produced only in 1967,
and 4 of the 9 they have today: Moccagatta (known as "Muncagöta" starting with the
2007 vintage, see below), Pajé, Pora, and Rabajà,
though the 1967 Pajé I have only seen in a Cavalieri bottling,
not the regular Produttori bottling like the others.
And the Pajé was not produced again until 1982.
1970 was the next year that they bottled crus,
when Martinenga disappeared and Ovello was added in.
In 1971, they added Montestefano and Rio Sordo.
In 1978, they added Asili and Montefico.
Finally, in 1982, they added Pajé back in.
So 1982 was the first year that all 9 crus we know today were all made.
According to Aldo Vacca, the members have always owned significant parcels in
all 9 crus, but they were introduced slowly due to concern about the market for
single vineyard wines, which were after all a new idea in 1967.
Aldo said they recently considered adding a tenth cru, but it was voted down.
He spoke glowingly of the grapes they now get from San Cristoforo in Neive,
so perhaps this is the cru they were considering. This is not a famous
vineyard, but Bruno Giacosa did produce a wine from this vineyard in
1971
and 1974.
Moccagatta vs Muncagöta: This vineyard in the village of Barbaresco
was known as "Moccagatta" until 2006. Starting with the 2007 vintage, the official
name was changed to "Muncagöta". The reason for this is that the other primary
owner in this vineyard (the Minuto family) had named their estate "Moccagatta" in 1952,
which predated the first Produttori del Barbaresco cru bottling from this vineyard by 15 years.
Since an MGA (official vineyard name) cannot be the same as a winery name, the compromise
was to use the Piemontese dialect name for the vineyard, "Muncagöta".
Special or Unusual Bottlings of Produttori Wines:
Martinenga Vineyard: Produttori made a wine from the Martinenga vineyard in 1967 only:
1967 Produttori Barbaresco Martinenga.
In 1970, the
Marchesi di Grésy
(who owns the entire Martinenga vineyard) decided to leave the Produttori.
In 1971, he sold his grapes to Ceretto, and starting in 1973, began to bottle his
own estate-bottled Martinenga. Here is a photo of the
1971 Ceretto Martinenga
along with the 1967 Produttori Martinenga and the 1978 Marchesi di Grésy Martinenga.
There may also be a 1973 Ceretto Martinenga.
Casotto Vineyard: Produttori made a wine from the Casotto vineyard in a few vintages.
The Casotto vineyard is viewed as a subsection of the Ovello vineyard in
Alessandro Masnaghetti's map of Barbaresco.
However in Slow Food's A Wine Atlas of the Langhe, it is viewed as a separate vineyard
bordering Ovello, and is also referred to as Loreto or Casotto-Loreto or
Vigna Casot. Casotto (or Casot) means "little house" in Italian.
Note that there is also a Barbaresco vineyard named Casot (or Casotto) in the village of Treiso.
Aldo Vacca tells me that Casotto is the name for a farm house and property that belonged to his
grandfather, Natale Vacca. Natale's father bought it from Domizio Cavazza.
Casotto is the top of the hill facing west.
Produttori released some Casotto in the early 1970s , but later on blended it in the Ovello Cru bottling.
The farmhouse Casotto is now Cantina del Pino which is owned by Aldo's cousin Renato. Renato owns most
of the original Casotto property. Other pieces of Casotto belong to another cousin of Aldo, Natale Vacca,
who is a member of the Produttori del Barbaresco. Other parcels of Casotto are owned by Carlo Boffa and
Albino Rocca, but all are bottled as Ovello this days. The Produttori Casotto bottlings that
I am aware of are:
Magnums of the Cru Riservas have been made since 1971.
In 1971, magnums of the Rabajà cru were made.
In 1978, only magnums of the Asili and Rabajà crus were made.
In 1979, I think no magnums were made of the Cru Riservas.
In 1982 and 1985, only magnums of the Asili and Rabajà crus were made.
In 1988, I think no magnums were made of the Cru Riservas.
From 1989 through 1996, magnums were made only for the 3 crus of Asili, Montestefano,
and Rabajà.
Starting in 1997, they dropped the Asili magnums and introduced Ovello magnums,
so magnums are now made only for the 3 crus of Montestefano, Ovello, and Rabajà.
Magnums (and sometimes 3-liter bottles) are often made for the base Barbaresco.
Double magnums (3-liters) have never been made for the individual crus.
Cavalieri Bottlings: The
Ordine dei Cavalieri del Tartufo e dei Vini d'Alba
anoints various wines each year to represent their society. According to their website,
the following Produttori del Barbaresco wines have been bottled under this special label:
Here is a fascinating and detailed interview with Aldo Vacca about the Produttori with Levi Dalton
on Levi's podcast "I'll Drink to That! Talking Wine with Levi Dalton".
This is "IDTT Wine 440: Aldo Vacca on the History and Future of Barbaresco":
Here is a much shorter video interview with Aldo Vacca conducted by Mannie Berk of Rare Wine Co:
Here is an interview that Aldo Vacca did with his father, Celestino Vacca, in 2004: