Barolo Pie Franco Cappellano 2003

The story of our vineyard begins with the 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.

The 1900s

In 1889, at the Paris Universal Exhibition, Giovanni Cappellano’s vineyard won a bronze medal. My perceptive great-grandfather probably went to France in order to corner its market, since French grapevines in those years had already been attacked by the terrible phylloxera. Giuseppe, Giovanni’s brother, instead graduated in pharmacy, choosing the industrial way of wine- pharmaceutical production. He created in that period concentrated musts, used for their healing effects, and the first grape jellies (winning a gold medal at the international exhibition of wine products). Furthermore he invented the famous Barolo Chinato. The industrial adventure of Giuseppe ended soon: in 1912 his brother Giovanni died from a tropical fever contracted in Tunisia, where he had gone in order to look for some species of vines resistant to phylloxera, so Giuseppe chose to take care of the family company.

Baldo’s age

Francesco Augusto Cappellano, oenologist, followed his ancestors’ footsteps in passing on the baton to his son Teobaldo, father of the , 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.

On the one side, a renewed attention to the territory in terms of local commitment and dedication. In those years, the Langhe did not have today’s reputation. They were hard lands and Teobaldo’s commitment was to promote and defend them with an active and tireless participation in Consorzio del Barolo e Barbaresco and as president of Enoteca Regionale del Barolo. On the other side, the recent visibility and financial difficulties of the winemakers made the prospects of an industrial approach to viticolture way too attractive. Teobaldo was among the first to vindicate the need to re-think winemaking, rediscovering the harmony with the ancestral activity of the farmers and taking on the responsibilities of environmental protection. In the final years of his life, he was president of the association Vini Veri (“True Wines”), in the frontline of the promotion of a natural approach to winemaking, and he was especially active in the creation of a network of responsible producers, oriented towards research and mutual support. The quality-oriented approach meant that renewed attention was given to Barolo Chinato.

The 1960s was not a good period because of the proliferation of low-quality competition. Teobaldo stubbornly kept believing in the handwritten recipe of his uncle Giuseppe, and received from his father Francesco in a sealed envelope.

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.

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