Antoniolo

Antoniolo is considered by many to be the most important reference estate in Gattinara, the most famous Upper Piedmont appellation. The company is run by siblings Alberto and Lorella Antoniolo but was founded by their grandfather Mario in 1948. 

In the 1950s and 1960s, when many Italians left the country to work in Piedmont factories, the Antoniolos bought the best vineyards in the region. By the 1970s they had an enviable collection of Gattinara's finest cru, including a monopoly on the Osso San Grato vineyard. 

In 1974 Rosanna Antoniolo, Mario's daughter and mother of Alberto and Lorella took up the offer of Italy's most famous wine journalist Luigi Veronelli and bottled her Osso San Grato and San Francesco wines as wines from the same vineyard. Although some producers in the Langa had already done this, for Gattinara it was revolutionary. 

Today the winery has 14 hectares of vineyards and the brothers strictly follow the instructions of their pioneering mother. Fermentation is done slowly in concrete tanks with local yeasts, and all Gattinara is aged in the same way as the Riservas, although they only received this appellation from the 2015 harvest.  An average of 4,600 cases are produced each year.