The producer
Giacomo took over his family’s business, based in Barolo commune Monforte d’Alba, in the 1920s, and years later, in the early 1960s, passed the reins to his sons, Giovanni and Aldo. The brothers went their separate ways in 1969. Giovanni kept the family’s Giacomo Conterno estate and continued his father’s tradition of purchasing the finest grapes and making solidly traditional Barolos, which included very long maceration periods in order to extract complexity and a strong tannic backbone in the wines, and many years ageing in large neutral oak casks. In 1974, Giovanni acquired the Cascina Francia vineyard in Serralunga d’Alba.
When Giovanni passed away in 2004, his son Roberto took over, and while having continued his father and grandfather’s traditional approaches, he has also introduced a few slightly more modern ways, including wooden vats for fermentation and large Austrian casks which he use alongside the traditional Slavonian casks for ageing the wines. The two key wines from this estate are Barolo Riserva ‘Monfortino’ and Barolo ‘Cascina Francia’.
The wine
Fruit for the Cascina Francia cuvee is sourced from the family’s eponymous 9-hectare monopole Nebbiolo vineyard in Serralunga d’Alba. West to southwest facing, the vineyard is 350-400 metres above sea level and located at the southern end of Barolo. We believe Cascina Francia to have a degree of similar expression to Monfortino and as such is better value thus allowing wine lovers to touch a bit of Italian luxury from this iconic producer. Cascina Francia is only made in exceptional vintages and only around 1500 cases are produced each year. Prior to 2010 it was known as “Cascina Francia”.
