Ceretto

Winemaking

The Cerettos strive for wine that expresses true varietal character with purity and elegance. While the Cerettos consider themselves traditional producers in both their viticultural and winery practices, they have constantly experimented with new techniques and technologies, using what works and discarding what doesn’t. 

The Cerettos were the first in Piedmont to introduce stainless-steel tanks for fermenting red wines. They also instituted managing the canopy and fruit load on the vines to yield ripe fruit with ripe tannins. During fermentation, the Cerettos began pumping over the wine to avoid extracting green or astringent tannins. The culmination of the Cerettos’ efforts has changed Barolo, eliminating the need for it to age for decades in bottle before it is ready to drink.

The pioneering spirit that began when Riccardo Ceretto bought his first vineyard in the then-untamed area surrounding Alba, then grew to larger-than-life proportions with Bruno and Marcello’s winemaking advancements and multiple-estate construction, continues today in every aspect of the Ceretto family business.

In the Vineyards

The Ceretto family adheres to stringent farming methods in its vineyards. All of the work is carried out by hand, with a bare minimum of assistance from tractors. As many as 500 man-hours per hectare are devoted to the Arneis and Dolcetto vineyards and 600 hours per hectare are dedicated to the remaining red varietals — 100 to 200 hours more than the Italian average of 400 hours per hectare.

The Ceretto’s vineyards are completely dry-farmed, as stipulated by DOCG and DOC regulations in Piedmont. All of the vines are pruned by hand and trained using the simple Guyot with an average of eight buds per vine. The canopy is managed with one to two prunings throughout the growing season to ensure the grapes and tannins reach optimum ripeness. The crop is thinned once at the beginning of veraison and again three to four weeks later.

In the Winery

At harvest, the grapes are picked at optimal ripeness entirely by hand into small plastic “cagettes,” or “bins.” The fruit is then carried to the winery and destemmed. For the Arneis, the must is cooled immediately and then undergoes a short, pre-fermentation cold soak. 

Red and white wines are fermented in stainless-steel, temperature-controlled tanks calibrated to fit the size of each parcel. During fermentation, the must undergoes a gentle extraction by rack and return or pump overs. The red wines then go through maceration.

After fermentation, the wine is pressed and racked into barriques, where malolactic fermentation occurs. All of the red wines are aged in French oak barriques and/or barrels. DOCG regulations stipulate Barolo wines must be aged for a minimum of three years with two years in wood and Barbaresco for two years total with at least one year in wood. Ceretto Barolo and Barbaresco wines are then bottle aged at least 12 months before release.