CAPPELLANO Grappa di Barolo

The origins

The story of the Cappellano 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. He 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

Augusto’s grandfather Francesco Augusto Cappellano, an oenologist, followed his ancestors’ footsteps in passing on the baton to his son Teobaldo, Augusto’s 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.

CAPPELLANO Grappa di Barolo

“The curiosity of a winemaker, the talent of a great artisan. This is how our Barolo grappa is born: from the desire to give value to less considered grapes of our vineyards and from the choice to hand them over to the sensibility of Gianni Capovilla. An experience which for us was like a trip to the “dark side of the moon” in discovery of the added value of the fruit we grow. The marc we use comes from our Barolo nebbiolo grapes. Originally, we intended to use only nebbiolo Pie’ franco (ungrafted) grapes, but the quantity was not enough for a single distillation; so we added the Rupestris grapes. Capovilla ‒ in our opinion, the most skilled distiller at getting the best out of the grapes after fermentation and at preserving their purity ‒ ages the distilled liquid at cold temperature during the winter months so that it acquires elegance; later, he brings it to the right strength with spring water. The result is a grappa available in limited quantities (less than 300 bottles) but characterised by the polish and purity we desired.”

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