Azienda agricola Ciabot Berton

About Winery and Wines

The Oberto family can claim to have early origins reaching as far back as 1200. On a land register for La Morra there are references to the Germanic surname of Obertus. In more recent times other testimonies underline the close bond with the territory of La Morra, with specific references even to the cultivation of vines from 1800 onwards. By the end of the 1950s, Luigi Oberto, along with his father Giovenale, was cultivating the 2 hectares of Nebbiolo on the hill of Bricco San Biagio, and selling the grapes at the Alba market. In these years, to avoid being subjected to the decisions of dealers and merchants and their imposition of iniquitous prices, Luigi decided to create his own winery and produce the wine himself, aiming to optimise the value of his own work. The first years’ production of Barolo were bottled from 1961 onwards. The limited yield amounted to a few thousand bottles: part of the wine from the best cask became a reserve, whereas a part of the production was sold unbottled to the major producers of the area. As the years went by, more land was given over to the growing of vines, until the present-day 12 hectares were reached. This land includes not only the valuable vine-growing slopes purchased over the years, but also the vineyards inherited by his wife Maria Beatrice in the historic Roggeri cru.

Our vineyards all lie in the prestigious historical cru of La Morra: Roggeri, San Biagio, Rive, Cappallotti, Pria and Rocchettevino, on the slopes facing towards Alba. The soil is largely composed of Marne di Sant’Agata, which belongs to the Tortoniano group. These are marls or loams, bluish-grey in colour, which have become greyish-white through the action of the weather. The composition of these mixed clays, made up of the finest sand with chalk components, is found everywhere except on the Bricco di San Biagio. The soil on this hill can be identified as stemming from the sandstone Arenarie di Diano d’Alba, which consists of deep layers of sand alternating with thin strata of clayey-sandy marl.