Winery Overview
In the village of Capriata D’Orba, in the land of Dolcetto d’Ovada production, the destiny of man and grapevines has been inextricably entwined for generations. The history of Pier Carlo Bergaglios winery is here, dating back to 1876 when Pier Carlo’s grandfather was born. As an adult, he began winemaking – what would become the family business – and vinified small quantities of wine. The Bergaglio cellars still house some preserved bottles from the 1925 vintage today. As is tradition in many winemaking regions, the winery and vineyards were passed down through generations – first to Pino, Pier Carlo’s father, and eventually to Pier Carlo himself. Father and son worked together for many years producing wine, planting new vines on their land, and experimenting with new vinification techniques as they saw trends in the market emerge. Pier Carlo became the full-time winemaker in 1990. Practicing Organic, he does not use herbicides, pesticides, chemicals or additives in his wines. Dolcetto di Ovada DOC partially overlaps Gavi DOCG, and Pier Carlo produces wines from both regions. Dolcetto di Ovada DOC belongs to the larger territory of Monferrato and is produced in 22 villages in the province of Alessandria. The Dolcetto variety must make up at least 97% of the final product, with 3% allowed for other red varietals. The vineyards are located only on hilltops or hillsides; there is no Dolcetto in the flatlands of this territory. The soil is poor and composed of sand, clay, calcareous marls and limestone. The region became a DOC in 1972. Gavi DOCG is the most renowned appellation for Cortese in all of Italy with 100% of the variety required for each bottling. There are 11 villages and more than 3,400 acres under vine. The landscape has both hills and valleys with the beautiful Ligurian Apennines in the backdrop. Vineyards are planted exclusively on hillsides, and soils are both terre bianche, which are white soils of compact calcareous marls, and terre rosse, red soils. Gavi was awarded DOC status in 1974 and upgraded to DOCG in 1998.