Cascina Luisin was founded in 1913 by Luigi Minuto, the great-grandfather of the current owner, Roberto Minuto. It commands a magnificent view over one of its prime vineyards, Rabajà-Bas, and across the valley to the tower of Barbaresco village itself. This truly is the heart of Barbaresco, and the Tanaro River is barely a kilometre away.
The Minuto family is one of the historic winemaking families of the Langhe. A notebook from 1930s shows that Roberto’s grandfather was one of the instigators of the first consorzio, growers’ association, along with the large-scale producers such as Gancia, Contratto and other small producers from the Langhe. He is deeply aware of the past in which the family were simple contadini or farmers. Roberto recalls that the family was able to buy new casks for the winery because the women worked in the Ferrero factory in Alba and earned more than the farm.
After the 1970s, high-quality artisanal wine created a new identity for Barbaresco. Consequently, he aims to work in a traditional way and to demonstrate in the glass the nature of the vineyard and the character of the vintage.
The winery itself was built in 1910, with the first harvest carried out here in 1913, giving it the honour of being the first winery to be built outside the village of Barbaresco itself. Some small adjustments have been made, for example, moving from traditional round casks to oval casks to make better use of the limited space. All of the new casks are Stockinger, though sourced before they were fashionable, with Roberto’s father consulting Conterno first. As a result, as a valued long-term customer, Luisin gets its casks ahead of those who joined the queue later.
For Roberto, reduced yields are key to concentration in the final wine. He supervises the workers who carry out the green harvest as they can be tempted not to reduce the yield to the required amount. The number of passes through the vineyard for this might be two, but in challenging years, it can be as high as five, all in the name of having fully ripe fruit at harvest time. Selection is carried out with the grapes on the vine, and then all that has been spared can be picked.
Cascina Luisin makes four MGA Barbaresco wines from the sub-zones Rabajà-Bas, Rabajà, Asili (all in the commune of Barbaresco) and Basarin (Neive). The company owns 1 hectare of the Rabajà-Bas, located below the winery, in what is the smallest MGA in Barbaresco (the total MGA is just 1.59 ha of vineyard). It faces west at an elevation of 280 metres and has particularly rich soils–a mixture of silt and clay–and produces wines of real depth. To restrain the vigour, the vines are planted in pairs, close together, to increase competition. Additionally, the vines are kept short, akin to bonsai, and the superficial roots are severed every three years to drive the roots deeper. While afternoons can be hot, temperatures drop thereafter due to the breeze from the Tanaro, resulting in a significant difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures.
This is highly beneficial for developing aromatics in Nebbiolo. In Rabajà, the company has 0.8 hectares in mid-slope at 310 m, planted 45 years ago. As the aspect is south to southwest, care has to be taken to leave enough leaves in the canopy to shade the fruit from the sun. Asili is a well-known prime site nearby. Here, Luisin has 0.5 hectares of vines planted as long ago as 1958. The soil here is more silt-dominated, and the elevation is marginally lower at 260 metres, but with the same benefit of the cooling influence of the Tanaro.
Finally, Luisin has 1.5 hectares in Basarin, located in the commune of Neive. At 270 m and east-facing, the soil here is loosely textured and much sandier, resulting in wines of finesse with underlying power. Again, the vines are old, having been planted in 1969, the vineyard having been added to the family’s holdings two generations ago.
The wines are destemmed and then fermented in old concrete vats. Roberto is very enthusiastic about these as they are completely inert and reduce temperature fluctuations. During fermentation, the temperature is kept below 30ºC, and as a result, ambient yeast will comfortably complete the fermentation. For the first ten days, the cap is bathed with an aerator, a gentle form of rack and return. Typically, the wine is in contact with the skins for two months with the cap submerged for full extraction of the ripe tannins. After that, the wine goes directly to oak casks, where it will mature for two and a half years. Cascina Luisin’s Barbaresco wines are marked by attentiveness to the particularities of its top vineyards and by traditional winemaking practices at their best.
