When Paolo Marchi returned to the family
castello on Via Orolungo in 1999, he found the vineyards overgrown by wilderness and an ancient cellar with bundles of wine labels from the nineteenth century. There are now eight hectares of productive vineyard and the wines have never been better. Opulently proportioned, eloquent of the intensity and refinement which define Piedmont viticulture, the pre eminent regional classic, its polished palate of vital currant and black cassis flavours are supported by the most graceful structure and refined silky tannins.
Most of the Proprietà Sperino vineyards are situated in the ancient winegrowing precinct of Ori, renowned for its bright yellow marine soils and sun drenched pre alpine plateau. The viticulture here is very old world, vines are all tended by hand and there is a strict no chemicals, no pesticides rule. Every hectare demands a grueling thousand man hours each year to achieve harvest, further scrutinized and meticulously hand sorted to ensure excellence of fruit. Grapes are desteemed and gently crushed into traditional open fermenters, vinified to ambient yeasts and macerated on gross solids thirteen months, before gravity transfer to a mix of barrique and larger format oak for thirty two months maturation.
