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Cascina degli Ulivi

Bellotti Bianco 2017

Price: $27.95
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Tasting notes

Bellotti Bianco does something unusual with Cortese: the split fermentation in stainless steel and an 11,000-liter oak cask adds a soft, lightly nutty texture that standard Gavi never achieves, while the iron-rich red clay soils around Novi Ligure push the fruit into riper pear and honey territory rather than pure citrus. With zero added sulfur and no fining, it drinks with a directness and slight haze that makes every bottle feel alive.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
White PeachHoneyWildflowersWalnut
  • Style: Dry, light-bodied white; straw yellow; white flowers, pear, honey, mineral slate; 12.5% ABV
  • Grapes & Terroir: 100% Cortese; biodynamic and organic certified; iron-rich red clay (Terre Rosse), Novi Ligure, Alessandria province; Guyot-trained, ~20-year-old vines, ~5 ha
  • Winemaking: Hand-harvested; spontaneous fermentation in stainless steel and large old oak; aged 6+ months in 11,000-liter oak cask; no added sulfur, unfined, unfiltered; crown cap
  • Serving: Serve at 46-50F; no decant needed; drink within 2-3 years of vintage
  • Pairing: Grilled branzino, steamed clams, fritto misto, risotto with spring vegetables, egg pasta with cream sauce, fresh goat cheese
  • Similar To: For fans of Muscadet sur lie, white Burgundy, or Jura Savagnin who want a no-sulfur, biodynamic Italian white

Bellotti Bianco is 100% Cortese from Cascina degli Ulivi's estate vineyards in and around Novi Ligure, in the Gavi zone of southeastern Piedmont. The vines are trained in Guyot, planted in iron-rich red clay soils — the Terre Rosse belt that runs through Novi Ligure and Tassarolo — and average around 20 years of age. The estate holds organic certification from CCPB and biodynamic certification from Demeter, and has farmed without synthetic inputs since the early 1980s.

In the cellar, the fruit is destemmed and spontaneously fermented using indigenous yeasts, split between stainless steel tanks and large old oak vats. The wine then ages for six months or more in an 11,000-liter oak cask. No sulfur is added at any point. The wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered, sealed under crown cap — a signal of its intended everyday-drinking character.

The 2017 vintage in Piedmont was shaped by an exceptional April frost event that struck during an early vegetative cycle, reducing yields across the region. The wines that survived tend to show concentrated, precise fruit. In the glass, Bellotti Bianco shows a straw-yellow color with notes of white flowers, ripe pear, honey, and a mineral slate edge. The palate is light-bodied with Cortese's characteristic bright acidity and a slightly textured, lightly nutty finish from the lees aging in large wood.

This wine sits outside the Gavi DOCG — Stefano Bellotti declassified his wines to Vino Bianco following a bureaucratic dispute with appellation authorities in 2013, choosing his biodynamic farming practices over the DOC framework. It is imported to the US by Louis/Dressner Selections.

Cortese's acidity and mineral edge make it a natural match for seafood: grilled branzino, steamed clams, or a simple fritto misto. The lees-derived texture stands up to richer preparations like risotto with spring vegetables or egg pasta with a light cream sauce. It also works well as a standalone aperitivo alongside aged Parmigiano or fresh goat cheese.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, White Wine
Wine Style:, Light Body
Grapes:, Cortese
Farming:, Organic and Biodynamic
Vintage:, 2017
Alcohol:, 12.5%
Country:, Italy
Region:, Piedmont
Appellation:, Vino Bianco
Bottle Size:, 750ml
Sugar Level:, Zero Added Sugar

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

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Producer profile

Cascina degli Ulivi

Cascina degli Ulivi is located at Strada della Mazzola 14 in Novi Ligure, in the Gavi zone of southern Piedmont. The estate has been in the Bellotti family since the 1930s. Stefano Bellotti took over the farm in 1977 as a teenager, starting with less than one hectare of vines on a largely abandoned property. He gained organic certification shortly after and converted to biodynamic farming in 1984, making him one of the earliest practitioners of biodynamics in Italian viticulture. He served as the Italian president of the Renaissance des Appellations association founded by Nicolas Joly. Stefano passed away in September 2018; his daughter Ilaria now manages the estate, continuing his approach.

The farm spans approximately 22 hectares of vineyards, 10 hectares of rotating arable land, a vegetable garden, and about a thousand fruit trees, along with livestock. Viticulture, cereal farming, and animal husbandry are fully integrated. All vineyards have been worked biodynamically since 1985 and are certified by both CCPB (organic) and Demeter (biodynamic). The estate holds Cortese as its primary white variety alongside Barbera, Dolcetto (called Nibio locally), Timorasso, Riesling Italico, and Chasselas. Vineyard soils are iron-rich red and ferrous red clay, part of the Terre Rosse belt near Novi Ligure.

All wines at Cascina degli Ulivi are fermented with indigenous yeasts in large, old oak vessels or stainless steel. No sulfur is added at any point in production, and wines are bottled without fining or filtration. Bellotti Bianco specifically undergoes spontaneous fermentation split between stainless steel and barrel, followed by aging for six months or more in an 11,000-liter oak cask. From 2013 onward, following a bureaucratic conflict with the Gavi DOCG authorities — Stefano had used only his Demeter certification seal rather than both certifications, and had planted fruit trees among the vines in violation of appellation rules — the wines were declassified from DOC/DOCG to Vino Bianco and Vino Rosso.

Wine region

Piedmont, Italy

Piedmont occupies the northwestern corner of Italy, bordered on three sides by the Alps and to the south by the Ligurian Apennines. It holds more DOCG appellations than any other Italian region, including Barolo, Barbaresco, Moscato d'Asti, and Gavi. The region's continental climate — cold winters, warm summers, and high diurnal temperature variation — combined with diverse soils across its river valleys and hillsides produces wines of pronounced character. The southeastern tip of Piedmont, near the province of Alessandria, is where the primary white grape Cortese reaches its fullest expression.

Gavi DOCG covers approximately 1,600 hectares across 11 communes in the province of Alessandria, sitting at the meeting point of the Po Valley plain, the Apennine foothills, and the Ligurian border. Vineyards range from 150 to 450 meters in altitude and benefit from sea breezes blowing in from the Ligurian coast roughly 50 kilometers to the south, which moderate summer heat and preserve natural acidity. The Consorzio identifies three soil bands: Terre Rosse, iron-rich red clay-alluvial deposits around Novi Ligure and Tassarolo; alternating marls and sandstones in the central belt around Gavi and Serravalle Scrivia; and white clay-marls in the southern communes. All derive from Miocene marine sediments. Gavi received DOC status in 1974 and was elevated to DOCG in 1998. Cascina degli Ulivi's vineyards sit in the Terre Rosse zone near Novi Ligure, which tends to produce fuller, more structured expressions of Cortese.

Frequently asked question

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.

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