Producer Morra Gabriele

PIEDMONT

The name of this young Langa winery is, to be precise, "Morra Gabriele, formerly Pautasso Vini since 1880". If you decide to visit it, however, you will not find anyone called Pautasso (the family who originally owned the cellar in Macellai di Pocapaglia), nor will Morra Gabriele welcome you. Waiting for you will be two brilliant young men, Gabriele Testa (who follows the vineyards) and Stefano Campaniello (responsible for winemaking), born in 1981 and 1983 respectively. The Gabriele Morra of the label was the grandfather of today's Gabriele, he had taken over from Pautasso years ago was one of those old, traditional Piedmontese cellars - then closed in 1984, maintaining the vineyards - and, only in 2013, the two souls of the current company met: Stefano, who had always been in the restaurant business, was the dining room manager in a place that had Gabriele as a client. “You bet I can guess your palate,” Stefano says one day. Challenge won. “I have some vineyards that belonged to my grandfather”, Gabriele tells him, and Stefano urges him: “Why don't you rent me some rows to start making wine?”. Here begins the adventure of a well-matched tandem that begins working owned vineyards in the Roero and rented ones between Barbaresco and Neive. Source of inspiration and motivation, the beautiful book "The Ignorants" by Étienne Davodeau, the result of the collaboration between a cartoonist and a biodynamic winemaker from the Anjou area. A story that also tells a lot about the philosophy of Gabriele and Stefano. After an initial vinification in 2012 with grapes coming from Montestefano, in 2013 the rental of six rows in the Ovello cru began (0.3 ha exposed to the West, right at the entrance to Barbaresco), to which at the end of 2014 7500 m2 were added to Fausoni di Neive, which then reached 1.05 hectares through a part of Chardonnay rented in the adjacent vineyard. In November 2018, through the lessor of the Ovello vineyard, another 1.20 hectares of the same cru were added in the Bernino sub-area, with exposure to the East, right in front of Gallina and Albesani di Neive. At the end of 2021, the rental of half a hectare of the Starderi vineyard in Neive is added - South-West exposure, 40-year-old vines, first harvest in 2022 - bringing the total hectares worked in the Barbaresco area to 3.05.