Pira is a historic vineyard located in the village of Castiglione Falletto and originally owned by the noble family who had a private road that connected the vineyard and the castle hundreds of years ago.
Our vineyard sits on the side of Serralunga d’Alba and Perno and is Southeast facing. Pira contains specific characteristics due to the slow disintegration of the rocks of Castiglione. Our family purchased this vineyard in 1989.
Castiglione Falletto is one of the eleven villages comprising the classified zone of Barolo. The village is geographically located in the center or the region and thus comprises a unique set of soil characteristics. The soil contains sedimentary marine elements dating back to the Tertiary (Cenozoic) period. Specifically, the geological formation of our soil is the oldest of the Barolo zone and similar soil can be found in the three villages of Castiglione Falletto, Serralunga d’Alba and Monforte d’Alba. The Pira vineyard, which was created from the weathering of rocks, has many layers of alternating white limestone, marl gray, blue marl, sands, with a high content of minerals including iron.
This is the largest vineyard owned by our family. We have 7 hectares (17.3 acres) planted to vines as well as 4 hectares (9.88 acres) of forest. The land is protected at the top by the Rocche of Castiglione and downstream from the forest with a stream flowing from Bussia of Monforte d’Alba. The habitat is ideal for our concept of respecting the land and the life of the soil.
The grape varieties we have at Pira include mostly Nebbiolo with a small quantity of Barbarea and Chardonnay. There are 6 unique micro parcels depending on the composition of the terrain which can range from limestone marl Roca to blue stone. The roots of each vine are only regenerated by pruning in the Pira vineyard and then replanting the same clippings from the old vines of Pira using the massale woods.
The oldest plant dates back to 1937. Currently, we have planted an experimental parcel of vines using the seeds from all of our historic vineyards in order to attempt to create a lineage linked directly from our vines while also increasing biodiversity.
