The Oddero family has been making wine in La Morra for over two centuries, and across seven generations they have never veered from the same conviction: that great Barolo is born in the vineyard and finished with patience in the cellar. Today Mariacristina Oddero and her niece Isabella Boffa carry that philosophy forward with organic certification and an estate at the heart of Piedmont's finest crus.
Backstory
Giovanni Battista Oddero (1794-1874) and his sons Lorenzo and Luigi began vinifying grapes in the early nineteenth century. Commercial bottling under the Oddero name began in 1878 under Giacomo Oddero (1851-1915). In 1911, the estate's Barolo was poured at Turin's International Exposition celebrating Italian unification. Giacomo Oddero (born 1926) renovated the family farm in the 1950s, elevated regional quality standards, and helped shape the DOC and DOCG regulations that define Piedmont's wine geography today. His daughters Mariacristina and Mariavittoria entered the business in the late 1990s, and the seventh generation - Isabella Boffa and Pietro Oddero - now works alongside them.
The Region
Poderi e Cantine Oddero is headquartered in the frazione of Santa Maria in La Morra, one of Barolo's six communes, in the Langhe hills of southern Piedmont. La Morra is known for its Tortonian soils of Helvetian blue and grey marls that tend to produce Barolo wines of perfume and relative accessibility in youth. The estate also holds parcels in Castiglione Falletto, Monforte d'Alba, Serralunga d'Alba, and Neive (for Barbaresco).
Vineyards and Farming
The estate covers 35 hectares across some of the Langhe's most celebrated crus, with roughly half planted to Nebbiolo for Barolo and Barbaresco. Named vineyard sites include Vigna Rionda (Serralunga d'Alba), Rocche and Villero (Castiglione Falletto), Brunate, Bricco Chiesa, and Capalot (La Morra), Bussia Soprana and Vigna Mondoca (Monforte d'Alba), and Gallina (Neive). Organic conversion began in 2009 and all Nebbiolo vineyards are now certified organic, with the remaining varietals in official conversion. The estate also maintains six hectares of prized Piedmontese hazelnuts.
Winemaking
Ninety percent of the estate's effort, by Mariacristina's own account, is invested in the vineyard. In the cellar, Nebbiolo ferments in stainless steel tanks with long maceration periods of more than 25 days and regular pump-overs. Aging takes place in large, neutral Slavonian and Austrian oak botti of 40 to 75 hectoliters, for 30 to 40 months depending on the cru and vintage. After blending in spring, wines rest an additional six months in bottle before release.
The Wines
Oddero produces Barolo from multiple single-vineyard crus, Barbaresco from the Gallina vineyard in Neive, Langhe Nebbiolo, Dolcetto d'Alba, Barbera d'Alba, Barbera d'Asti, and Moscato d'Asti. The Barolo range is the estate's crown: wines of classical structure, floral complexity, and the long, measured development that comes from large-barrel aging and patient cellaring.
