Collina Serragrilli: Four Generations, One Passion — Wine!

From the end of the nineteenth century until today, four generations of the Lequio family have carried out the agricultural work of the Serragrilli Hill. Since the time when the grapes were sold in vats and the bulk wine in “Carra” and large barrels were loaded on the carts pulled by oxen, the activity of this company has always passed from father to son and constantly renewed and expanded. Currently, the last generation leads with seriousness and resourcefulness the work begun many years ago, with the help of husbands and brothers-in-law, who are also wine-producing. This small family-run Piedmont company produces wines using only the grapes from its own vineyards. The land can be placed all around the cellar, which in turn is located right on the top of the hill called Serragrilli. The processing system is constantly updated according to the most modern vinification techniques. The cellar has grown over the years with French barriques and small oak barrels, in which the great red wines are refined.

Neive is the meeting point between the Langhe and Monferrato. It owes its name to a noble Roman family, the “gens naevia”, of which it was a possession. However, the origins of this centre are much older: the first settlements we know of date back to around 5,000 years ago, that is to the Neolithic period. Neive brings, in particular in its historical centre, defined one of the most beautiful in Italy, the sign of the passage of numerous peoples and conquerors, who over time followed one another. Among churches, palaces and monuments, tourists can organize historical-artistic visits, or admire the splendid landscapes thanks to a network of nature trails, to do on foot or by mountain bike. To experience Neive in the round, however, we cannot fail to mention wine: Barbaresco DOCG, Barbera d’Alba DOC, Dolcetto d’Alba DOC and Moscato d’Asti DOCG are the flagships of the typical production of the vineyards of the Neivese hills. Thanks to an ideal microclimate and a particular love that binds the inhabitants to the land, the greatest wealth of Neive is undoubtedly the wine production.

Collina Serragrilli recently joined America Wines Awards 2019 and won 2 golds and 1 silver.
Here the wines that won the competition:

1. Barbaresco DOCG “Serragrilli” 2016 – was awarded Gold by America Wines Paper.
   
2. Barbera d’Alba DOC “Serraia” 2016 – was awarded Gold by America Wines Paper.
   
3. Langhe Nebbiolo DOC “Bailè” 2016 – was awarded Silver by America Wines Paper
   

From the owner: Mr.Bruno Piernicola

Today in Italy and in particular in Piedmont /Langhe is difficult to taste bad wines, there has been a positive evolution in vineyards management and winemaking processes.
Before explaining who we are, it would be useful to make a distinction between wine producers categories :

·         “Pure winemakers”: usually family wineries making wines exclusively with their grapes /vineyards
From the fruit to the cork.
Not always all family wineries are good winemakers, but usually, are not too big and are obliged to work on quality … impossible to fight against mass production prices/wines

·         Coop Wineries: the name should lead to the understanding that all the grapes come from several associates that earn money on Tons of grapes … it’s the work of a year! no other kind of profit.
The quality is a little bit lower because the coop winery has to “squeeze” whatever receives, but today there are many of them working seriously and making a selection of crues for top wines and keeping the rest for entry-level wines.

· Bottlers: in general their wines are cheap and for the big distribution market.
The main problem for this kind of products is that the quality is not constant … they do not work in vineyards, they receive only trucks of bulk wines and then make “adjustments” before bottling them.
Of course the quality is lower, but usually are “well-executed” wines, technically without big defects, but please, don’t “turn” the wine into the glass for hours trying to find/understand the terroir or some other scents coming from mother mature!

This is a very general description, there could be good and bad things in every category.
During my last 25 years of trips in many countries all over the world, I realized that “normal” consumers do not know this difference.

Said that Collina Serragrilli belongs to the first one, we are the 4^th generation of winemakers in Neive since 1890.
All our wines come from vineyards in property and most of them are very old, from 35 years yo till 68 ( Cru Starderi )

As I wrote, it’s not easy to be “unique” in a land like Langhe, where all “pure winemakers” are working with extreme care and professionality in vineyards and winery.
I cannot say that we are better than this or that producer, I can only try to share what we do every day with a glass of wine.
It’s not easy to keep an invisible wire from us to the final consumer, we hope that wine will talk instead of us!
When I have the opportunity to taste and describe Collina Serragrilli wines with people I feel that they trust me, maybe is the quality or maybe is the passion I’m able to transmit.
We try every day to maintain at the maximum the original taste of the grape/variety till the glass, refining wines into medium/big barrels ( no barriques ) also to obtain a longer life of them.

We started to export our products in America since 1998, but a more consolidated business started a few years ago in the area of New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine.
Our production is not so big ( 39,5 acres for around 100.000 bottles per year ) so we never forced sales … we need few, but good, professional and passionate customers.

Other countries besides Europe where we ship our wines are Japan, Hong Kong, China, Brazil and Maldives.
There is still “room” for some other customers/countries, but with limited availability.

What I feel to suggest to the readers is “try to be like a hunting dog” ( or a truffle dog if you are in Piemonte ), don’t taste only “super awarded wines/competition wines”, but try to discover new brands/families and who is behind that bottle.
It’s not easy, learn how to read a back label, seek on the internet and you will discover an amazing world!

Cheers!

Piernicola “Pier” Bruno