Pio Cesare
This historic family-owned estate is named after its founder Cesare Pio, who established the business in 1881. It is based in Alba in the heart of Piemonte, nestled between the Alps and the Mediterranean sea. The surrounding hills are ideal for vine growing with unique micro-climates and varying exposures. The confluence of cold Alpine air with warm maritime moisture regularly creates a mist, or ‘nebbia’, over the foothills, giving name to Nebbiolo, the great red variety of the region.
In the 1950s Pio Cesare was one of the first producers to export Barolo to the UK and thereby developing the wine’s reputation overseas. Today, the founder’s great grandson Pio Boffa continues the family tradition producing Piemontese wines in a style that manages to balance the best of the old with the best of the new.
Undeniably, the top wine producers are those with best vineyards, managed carefully and from which a strict selection of the best grapes is made. Pio Cesare own 52 hectares of vineyards in the hills of Barolo and Barbaresco, including some of the prime sites for growing Nebbiolo: 16 hectares of the ‘Ornato’ vineyard in Barolo and 18 hectares of ‘Il Bricco’ in Barbaresco. The grapes for the ‘Classic’ Barolo are grown in four vineyards belonging to the Pio Cesare family in four of the Barolo communes; Serralunga d’Alba, La Morra, Grinzane Cavour and Novello. (Pio Cesare own a total of 19 hectares used for the production of Barolo and Barolo ‘Ornato’). When blended, the unique qualities of the grapes from each vineyard combine to create a harmonious and perfectly balanced wine.