Prunotto Nizza Riserva Costamiole

Producer

Alfredo Prunotto founded his business in 1922, and was one of Piemonte’s most dynamic exporters until his retirement in 1956. The company passed then to Prunotto’s friend Beppe Colla, now a revered winemaker and one of the founding fathers of modern Piemonte. The quality of the top wines goes without saying, but the rest of the range is made with equal aplomb. The style is modern without being exaggerated: freshness of aroma and approachability of structure are viewed as positives, but copious new oak is not. Indeed, the only wines that see the inside of a brand new barrique are the outstanding single vineyard Barberas.

Vineyard

Grapes come exclusively from the Costamiòle vineyard in the Agliano area, where there is light coloured clay soil, rich in calcareous marl. This area is itself part of the warm Nizza sub-zone, which gives the ripest, highest-quality Barbera in the Asti region.

Winery

Upon arrival in the cellars, the grapes were destemmed and crushed. Fermentation took place at 30ºC in fifty-hectolitre wooden vats, with frequent pumping-over during the ten-day maceration period. After fermentation was completed, the wine was transferred into new French (Allier) oak barriques where it underwent malolactic fermentation. The wine was aged for twelve months in new French barriques and for a further year in bottle before release.