Wineries

READ ME!
I know – using full capitals in writing is frowned upon, but I’ve got to get your attention one way or another to make sure you know that this title is an instruction rather than a recommendation.
So take some time and carefully read the numerous clarifications that follow, because – believe me – misunderstandings are only ever just around the corner. And if ever you’re in doubt, do not hesitate to get in touch with mapman360@enogea.it.

Let’s begin with the screenshot below. It shows – very few minor exceptions – all the wineries in our database that own and/or lease vineyards within the Barolo production area, and who either currently produce it or will produce it in the near future. Purely bottlers or secondary brands of estates already in the database are excluded for the time being.
Even so, the BAROLOMGA360 database remains by far the most complete and up to date you can find. No need to be coy about it.

Now let’s go into detail.

Listed on a white background, in order of date updated, are the wineries to which an in-depth fact sheet is dedicated, complete with all the data available to us including panoramic images of the vineyards, extracts from the geoviticultural map, and descriptive text. To access the sheet simply click on the name of the winery.
On a gray background are listed, again in order of date updated, all the wineries accompanied by an in-depth fact sheet complete with biographical data, wines produced, and MGAs where they have vineyards, but lacking the panoramic images, geoviticultural map extracts, and descriptive text.
Why this distinction? As you can easily imagine, gathering the information, processing it, and making the panoramic images requires a monumental effort and thousands of man-hours at the very least. Waiting for all estates in the database to be completed would therefore have meant – once the work was finished – picking everything up again and starting over, thus postponing publication indefinitely. Better, therefore, to proceed step by step, periodically completing a certain number of estates (not necessarily the best or the most famous) and thus grow over time the number of ‘white’ estates and replace the number of ‘gray’ ones, in line with a real database that is being constantly updated.
Despite this kind of approach, it may be the case – especially over time – that some content is not always up to date (specifically the panoramic images). Unfortunately there’s no real solution because, especially in the case of vineyards, changes are the order of the day and keeping track of them in real time is near impossible.
As for sorting, if the default is not to your liking, you can switch to alphabetical order or customize the search using the appropriate bar.
As with any work, there will be no shortage of errors, inaccuracies, forgetfulness, and absences in ours. For this we ask for forgiveness in advance, both from the reader and the estates. In case you notice them, please do point them out and it’ll be our pleasure to remedy them as soon as possible.

Once you click on the estate’s name (white background), you’ll be taken to a page with three different elements (desktop and tablet version): a background image; a menu (in the lower left-hand corner); and a ‘open profile’ button in the bottom right-hand corner. Below explains how the first two work and what they offer, since the third needs no explanation. For wineries on a gray background the profile tab will open directly.

Background: is one or more panoramic images which can be selected using the appropriate thumbnails. Once selected, they can be navigated using the tools found below the thumbnails (the same ones found on the rest of the site) or dragged and dropped with your finger or mouse depending on whether you’re using a desktop computer, phone, or tablet.
Background: each thumbnail has one or more names associated with it to help you find what you need; not infrequently these names will only be a part of the MGAs and/or Vigna explored in depth in the corresponding panoramic image. My advice, therefore, is to always rotate the image in its entirety so you can be sure that nothing has been missed.
Background: as a rule, panoramic images can only be rotated horizontally; in some cases you can also scroll down to better see what’s at the bottom of the screen. If you think there might be something missing, try it and if the image doesn’t move, it means there’s nothing interesting to see.
Background: only estate vineyards that fall within an MGA are highlighted in the panoramic images, without making any distinction between those actually owned and those leased; where important, vineyards where grapes are simply purchased or fall outside an MGA have also been highlighted.
Background: as a rule, estate vineyards have been highlighted in light blue and those in red are the vineyards of the MGA in which they fall; there are many exceptions, related both to the on-screen rendering of colors (red and light blue do not always go well with the underlying image) and to the presence on the same image of two or more MGAs; in these cases I have also used green and magenta for estate vineyards and yellow or orange for MGAs.
Background: when possible, I’ve tried to bring together as many of the estate vineyards in the panoramic images as possible, thus favoring context (a point that is always fundamental to me) over accuracy and detail; in particularly significant cases, or where the image was particularly successful and/or evocative, I’ve not missed the opportunity to provide closer views.
Background: in order to make things as clear as possible, I also associated the estate vineyards (or at least the most substantial vineyard bodies) with the name of the winery itself, sometimes abbreviated for reasons of space. In more complex cases, under the name of the winery I also specified the MGA to which it belonged and – after a hyphen – the name of the vineyard, if any.
Background: the panoramic images, for a variety of reasons (some easily imagined) were taken in different years and seasons. Normal, then, that the lighting, colors, and end result are different, even among panoramas of the same estate.
Background: precisely because they were taken at different times, it may be the case that some vineyards present in one image are not in another (because they’ve been planted or levelled at the time one photo was taken). What matters, however, is that those on the estate in question are present and correct, perhaps older or younger than they are today, but it matters little. Photographs that update in real time and independently of course do not exist.
Menu: you’re likely to notice how useful it is that the menu allows you to scroll through the list of estates without returning to the main page. Just remember the color code: in green is the estate you’re currently looking at; in black are the estates with a complete card; and in gray are the estates without panoramic images and in-depth text, in other words the aforementioned ‘gray’ wineries.

By clicking on the ‘open profile’ button, the background image is replaced by an in-depth tab that provides a window with key information (commune, address, email, and website) and immediately below (in the case of ‘white’ estates) an in-depth description. Further down you’ll find three side-by-side columns, which, from left to right, are as follows:

Wines: this shows, in order: 1) wines currently in production; 2) wines to be released in the future; and 3) labels that are out of print or will be soon according to information received from the winery. The latter will be marked with a blue dot next to the name, while the out-of-print ones will be marked with a red dot.
Wines: for labels in production, the first vintage produced is given, which in most cases has been thoroughly cross-checked and so should be considered accurate, though when the winery itself has been unable to provide certain and documented information we cannot exclude the possibility that the first vintage may be earlier than that indicated. In the complete absence of reliable information, we have opted instead for a dash rather than a year.
Wines: for labels that have been out of print for some time, in particular for wines prior to the 1980s, the first and last vintages are to be considered approximate since it is very difficult to obtain definite information on them; again, in the complete absence of reliable information, we’ve opted for the dash.
Wines: even for wines to be released in the future, the first vintage must be read with a certain degree of grace, since often the winery itself has not been willing or able to provide an exact one, just as it may happen that the winery’s initial intentions change in the course of the work.
Wines: although I taste regularly, I preferred not to report any rating (in points or stars) next to the various wines listed for at least two reasons: 1) the world of ratings is now so saturated that there is no need for further ratings; 2) rating and grading, as I may have written in the past, are beyond the scope of this site, which is primarily informative and archival. It struck me as more interesting, therefore, to mark the wine or wines for each winery that seem particularly significant to me with a green dot next to their name; significant either for their quality, history, or because they’re a particularly characteristic expression of their MGA of origin.
Wines: last but not least are wines that are still on the market and have changed their names over the course of their history. Perhaps the best-known case is that of Luciano Sandrone’s Barolo Cannubi Boschis, whose first vintage was in 1985 but which became Barolo Aleste in 2013. The question we asked ourselves was almost obsessive: are Aleste and Cannubi Boschis to be considered two separate wines, each with its own first vintage, or is it more correct to report only Barolo Aleste and indicate as its first vintage that of Barolo Cannubi Boschis, since they’re the same wine? Realizing that each choice has its pros and cons, in the end we preferred to keep track of the change and put Cannubi Boschis among the out of production wines, with its first and last vintage, and then obviously including Barolo Aleste with its actual debut vintage.
MGAs and Vigna: this is a column that lists in alphabetical order the MGAs and the Vigna in which the winery has vineyards, regardless of whether they’re used for single-vineyard wines or not, and without distinguishing between owned and leased vineyards (for grape purchases, see below instead). In the case of ‘white’ estates, this list should be considered extremely accurate because it’s the result of extensive cross-checking; in the case of ‘gray’ estates, however reliable, it should be considered approximate; in the case the estate does not own or manage any vineyards within an MGA, or purchases grapes from different vineyards each year, the column will not appear.
MGAs and Vigna: next to each entry is the area under vine (in hectares) that the estate manages within that specific MGA or Vigna, calculated using an estimate based on the regional vineyard cadastre, which can be downloaded free of charge from the Piedmont Region website. Since this is an estimate, this number is to be considered a rough indication, not binding, and useful only to provide an idea of magnitude (after all, the same official data provided to us by the estates is often inaccurate). This same number also refers to the total area planted with vines, without distinguishing between nebbiolo and other grape varieties. In case this figure is not available we have used the abbreviation n.a.
MGA and Vigna: still on area, it’s not infrequent that wineries also cultivate vineyards that are not part of an MGA or are even located outside the boundaries of the Barolo denomination; it’s therefore a foregone conclusion that in many cases the sum of the hectares reported in this column provides only partial data about the vineyards actually cultivated by the winery in question.
MGAs and Vigna: finally, in the case of grapes purchased, no acreage data has been provided next to the name of the MGA and/or Vigna and replaced instead by a dash.
Maps: like the above, this is a column divided into two sections. At the top is a simplified map that enables the locating of MGAs where the estate has vineyards or from which it purchases grapes. At the bottom are one or more extracts of the geoviticultural map with the winery’s vineyards superimposed (always and only those that fall within the MGAs); in the latter case, the different colors used to highlight the vineyards have no significance and were chosen simply for aesthetic reasons or to make certain details of the map more obvious; in other cases, they were chosen to make it clearer that each one belongs to different MGAs.
Maps: in case the estate owns or operates only vineyards outside an MGA, their location on the map will be highlighted with a green circle, while they will appear regularly on the extracts of the geoviticultural map.

At this point I would say that’s it, except for one final clarification: in writing I have repeatedly alternated between the first-person singular and the first-person plural to emphasize the teamwork to which Paolo De Cristofaro also contributes. This is unprecedented work, of which we are especially proud.