Tenuta Grillo

Tenuta Grillo sits in Gamalero, in the Monferrato of Alessandria province. Guido Zampaglione, originally from Irpinia, studied economics in Naples and then viticulture and oenology at the Università Cattolica in Piacenza; his first Tenuta Grillo vintage came in 2003. His mentor is Giulio Armani of La Stoppa, and the reference points he cites for macerated whites are Gravner and Radikon - the lineage is clear.

Around 32 hectares in total, with some 17 under vine: Barbera, Dolcetto, Freisa and a little Merlot on the red side; Cortese, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc on the white. Farming is certified organic, yields low, fermentations spontaneous with native yeasts, minimal SO2 or none, no filtration. Production runs at roughly 20,000 bottles a year.

The signature of the estate is time. Baccabianca - 100% Cortese, sixty to ninety days on skins, twelve months in steel - is held for five years in bottle before release, usually seven or eight years after harvest. The reds see forty-day macerations, a year or more in large wood, and at least three further years in bottle. Igiea (Barbera, named for his wife), Pecoranera (Freisa-led), Pratoasciutto (Dolcetto), Tornasole (Merlot), and the Sauvignon Solleone (also bottled as Genius Loci) round out the range.

Guido runs two other estates under the ZAM.Organica umbrella (Zampaglione Agricoltura Marginale): Il Tufiello in Calitri, Alta Irpinia, an old Zampaglione family cereal and forage farm certified organic since 1990 - one of the first in Southern Italy - where the Fiano vineyard was planted in 2001 and now produces Sancho Panza and Montemattina; and the more recent San Lorenzo della Costa project in Liguria, taken on in 2016.