On the Pugnane hill where Barolo, Monforte and Castiglione Falletto meet, the Ghisolfi family makes a few thousand bottles of traditional Barolo a year from vines they have tended for generations.
Backstory
The Ghisolfi family has grown grapes and made wine in Barolo since the 1600s. The current estate is run by brothers Enzo and Ivo Ghisolfi, who took over the family business in 1998 and shifted toward more environmentally minded, low-intervention farming.
The Region
Cascina Pugnane sits in the heart of the Barolo zone, on the Pugnane cru hill at the meeting point of three of the appellation's great communes. This is Nebbiolo country at its most storied.
Vineyards & Farming
The estate covers about 6 hectares, of which roughly 5.5 are planted to Nebbiolo for Barolo and to Dolcetto. Farming is low-intervention, and grapes are hand-harvested. Production is genuinely small, with fewer than 2,500 bottles of Barolo leaving the cellar in a typical year.
Winemaking
The winemaking is unhurried and traditional. Nebbiolo ferments in stainless steel with extended maceration, then ages a minimum of two years in large Slavonian oak botti before release.
The Wines
The estate is best known for its Barolo crus, including Bussia and Pugnane (and Villero), released in limited quantities. They reflect the family's philosophy of careful farming and patient, classic Barolo winemaking.
