Nuova Cappelletta
Who: Alessandro Uslenghi
Where: Vignale Monferrato, Alessandria, Piedmont, Italy
What: Monferrato DOC, Monferrato Casalese DOC, Piemonte DOC
How: Organic (CCPB), Biodynamic (Demeter) estate-grown
Total size: 6000 cases, 2.6 ha (6.42 ac)
The Wines
Nebbiolo del Monferrato DOC SSA 2019, 2020
Barbera del Monferrato DOC SSA 2019, 2020
Cortese Piemonte DOC SSA 2020
The story of Nuova Cappelletta begins in Schenectady, NY.
A young Giuseppe Fracchia had graduated from the University of Turin with a degree in engineering. At the time, Ernst Alexanderson a Swedish American had evolved his work in radio waves into the development and creation of the first television broadcast. The first broadcast took place from Alexanderson's home in Schenectady in 1927. General Electric was based there and in the mid-20s GE and Schenectady were the company and place to be. Fracchia received an offer to work for GE in Schenectady and he jumped at the opportunity.
Giuseppe eventually came back to Turin and together with his brother in law, Cesare Pettazzi, founded several companies focusing on hardware, electrical cables, and automative parts. As Italy grew post WWII his companies did well. By 1965 Giuseppe had done well enough to buy an estate near where he was born in Monferrato. The estate carried two houses on it- cascina nuova and cascina cappelletta. He named the property Nuova Cappelletta.
Nuova Cappelletta is located 25km northeast of Asti. It is in the heart of Piedmontese farm country; cattle country. By the early 1980s, Giuseppe's daughter Adele Uslenghi began managing the estate, and it was Adele that drove a renaissance at Nuova Cappelletta converting the farming to certified organic (CCPB) and certified biodynamic (Demeter). The drive came for a love for the place, for a search for quality and terroir, and for a reverence and respect for all of those who live and work there.
Adele's son, Alessandro Uslenghi is the current steward of this legacy. After finishing university in Italy, Alessandro was admitted to MIT where he did work on his thesis regarding photovoltaic systems (solar energy). He later began with Fiat, but the family and farm pulled him home. He has been managing Nuova Cappelletta since 1989.
The Nuova Cappelletta estate totals 216 hectares. Today just 18 hectares are under vine. In 2002, Alessandro converted most of the estate into a formal wildlife preserve, and it has become a safe haven for over hundred different types of migrating birds that make their annual trip between Europe and Africa.
Alessandro has maintained his stewardship of the farm and its ideals and focus on quality, which for him mean an adherence to operating under the terms of being certified organic and biodynamic. In addition to wine, the farm's principal products are cereals, wheat, and cattle. As such, compost is the driver behind the farm's biodynamic practice. For Alessandro, his stewardship is about tending to the natural diversity that Nuova Cappelletta already has.
"...our vision about biodynamic agriculture brings us to see the farm like a living organism whose various parts interact with each other in the aim of achieving a good harmony and fertility of the soil. The most important practice are the crop rotation, the good managing of the livestock, the choice of varieties good for our terroir and a use of the biodynamic aids."
"We always say a good red wine is made in the vineyards, if we work well there and are lucky with the weather, in the cellar we have to do as less as possible"says Giuseppe. The 18 hectares of vineyards are broken into roughly four parcels:
Collina: A 7 hectare, southwest facing parcel that is planted to barbera, cortese, and chardonnay.
Montalbava: A 3 hectare, south facing parcel that is planted to barbera.
Minola: A 3 hectare, south facing parcel that is planted to barbera.
Novareto: A 7 hectare, south-southeast facing parcel that is planted to Barbera, grignolino, freisa, and nebbiolo.
In the cellar, he is assisted by cellar manager Mattia Sarzano, as well as with consulting oenologists Daniela Serra and Dante Scaglione (the long time oenologist for Giacosa). The philosophy is on stewardship of the fruit in that fermentations are done in stainless steel, and elevage is done in either stainless and/or smaller used barrels. The want is for the wines to drink in the 'classico' style, which they do, while doing as little as possible in the cellar.
Being in Monferrato, most of the estate production is in barbera. But the winery also carries additional small batch bottlings of other varieties as detailed in the above vineyard breakdown. A few of these smaller bottlings are executed without sulfite additions: nebbiolo, cortese, and barbera. The other bottlings see minimal sulfur additions.
Indie will launch the winery with a fixed allocation of Nebbiolo "NSA", which refers to 'No Sulfites Added'. Being in Monferrato, and coming from a classic vintage, the wine drinks of an almost southern Ghemme style, yet slightly broader and stronger. That it doesn't carry oak allows the fruit to show through and the tannins provide the structure. The wine is balanced, not old school or traditional. It transmits a certain correctness that only nebbiolo can give. After this inbound, we will see the Cortese and Barbera NSA, and then other releases.
The catch? This wine comes from two small parcels, and as the winery is moving from the 2019 vintage into the 2020 vintage, they only had 50cs of the 2019 for us. And even when the 2020 Nebbiolo NSA is available we have been advised that it is a small production bottling for them. Regardless, the wine is delicious and we said no problem- send them- and we expect the 2019 Nebbiolo NSA to arrive in early April. That all of the above is priced at under $15-$16 wholesale is, well, extraordinary.
And with all of that, USA, please meet Alessandro Uslenghi and Nuova Cappelletta.
