The Castello is most known for its purchase, in the early 1960s, of a hillside known as Santo Stefano. Only 20% of it was planted to vines at the time, but the Castello recognized its... Read More

The Castello is most known for its purchase, in the early 1960s, of a hillside known as Santo Stefano. Only 20% of it was planted to vines at the time, but the Castello recognized its great potential and planted the entire hillside. The Castello has since supplied Bruno Giacosa (a Neive native) with the grapes for his monumental Santo Stefano, the one wine that Giacosa makes from purchased fruit.

The Castello also makes its own version of Santo Stefano (a serious wine, indeed), but also uses it as a source for today’s Barbaresco: a blend of different Crus intended to highlight the terroir of Neive in general. Neive is a little sandier than the village of Barbaresco, making wines that are less tannic. This, of course, helps make the wine more approachable, and so it is precisely the kind of Barbaresco that the Piedmontese gulp so happily when released.