Langhe, Monferrato and Gavi: these are the growing areas, where Michele Chiarlo produces for more than 50 years his wonderful wines.
He has always been considered a innovative producer, from the beginning in fact he headed to produce high quality wines, trying to gather only prestigious single-vineyards with great exposures. Because, as he says, “my father told me that only certain positions together with certain varietals can give the best quality ever”. [...]
Mr Chiarlo when did you discover your passion for wine?
“It is flowing in my veins. My family has been farmers for seven generation, I can say I was born not among wines, but among grapes. After having attended 6 years the oenological school in Alba, I started a little winery with only 5 hectares ”.
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A slow cycle, which lasts one year, long and unpredictable, here in this part of Italy, area La Morra, Presidium of Nebbiolo, stories of vineyards and men, who live the vineyard with all their passions.
The handcrafts of the wine world, they define themselves “vigneron”, and France is not so far away from here. Chiarlo family, united, solid and strong. The territory reflects their way of being: frank, powerful, passionate for the things “with feelings”, like wine. And art, which the vineyards are full of.
Chiarlos and wine, a story more than 50 years old, when Michele Chiarlo, short of land, but long of passion, started producing his wine. Vintage after vintage, improving the cellar, getting better vineyards but above all achieving more and more wine – knowledge.
First he conquered the foreign market, afterwards the domestic one. People loved the wines. His marriage and is family: the sons Alberto and Stefano.
To the first parcels he added other prestigious ones, as La Court , which originates a very prestigious Barbera; “sceltissimi” as Cerequio, which together with Cannubi and Brunate represents the excellence of Barolo terroirs.
Barolo comes from Nebbiolo, a grape which marries perfectly the marl and calcareous soil, called blue marl. His peculiarity is to keep the humidity also in the very dry vintages, in order to allow the roots to dig deeply in the ground to find the water they need. The grapes are compact and long. The berries round, not very big, of a “dusty”, “foggy” blue colour. Maybe here from takes the grape his name Nebbiolo (nebbia means fog in Italian). Or maybe from the fact that those grapes will be the last to be harvested, in October when the first fog rises from the land.
Matter of fact is that they cycle of life is very long: they germinate as soon as spring starts, they flourish around mid- June and trough a slow evolution, they reach their best in late autumn.
Maybe the secret of the complexity of Barolo wine is this long and careful path of evolution of the grapes the wine is made of. The perfect point to admire the soul of this prestigious vineyard, enjoying the landscape and the silence of the nature, is the small Bourg of Cerequio, where the view embraces all the amphitheatre of the vineyards.
Here is the small church, with his bell tower, and next to this you'll see the old house, still elegant in its simplicity. In the ‘700 it was the noble residence called “il Palas”, nowadays it has been converted in an exclusive tasting room, where the old and precious wines can be cherished.
Thanks to the careful work of the architects Mario Mulazzani and Simona de Paoli, a “room of senses” has been created, with all the elements for a perfect tasting: white table, blue and white lights, silence.
Right next to the tasting room there is the Caveau, which cherishes a collection of more than 6.000 different Barolo bottles, coming from the different crus (magnums, Jeroboams also present!)
The eyes of the visitors can visit all the last 50 vintages, from the older ones up to the actual vintages, all of them to be tasted.
A unique experience to join such a extraordinary wine.
