Azienda Agricola Le Ginestre S.S.

About Winery and Wines

Cantina Le Ginestre stands on the road that winds its way up from the village of Gallo Grinzane towards Diano d’Alba, just where Grinzane Cavour Castle suddenly comes into view on top of the hill. The entire production cycle - from the fermentation of the grapes to the bottling of the wines - is carried out here. The building is on two floors: the wine-making and bottling plant is to be found on the floor above ground level, while the ageing takes place in casks, barrels and bottles in the basement. The wine-making process benefits from modern technology: a horizontal plenum press is used to gently drain off free-run juice, and vertical heat-conditioned stainless steel fermenters fitted with automatic sprayers are used in the making of the red wines, while the white wine grapes are fermented at low temperatures in heat-conditioned pressure tanks. The wines not requiring ageing are stored in stainless steel tanks, while those with more structure - Barolo, Nebbiolo, and Barbera - are matured in casks made of Slavonian oak and smaller tonneaux and barriques made of French oak. The bottles are stored in the coolest, darkest part of the cellar.

We strongly believe that good wine results from the way in which the vineyards are tended to, so they are worked by hand rather than using techniques requiring the use of machinery. Only organic fertilizers are employed, while vine diseases are prevented by using natural copper and sulphur-based products. The yield is controlled by means of manual thinning of the bunches in order to help the grapes ripen to perfection. Our vineyards lie in the heart of the hills of the Langhe, a prime growing area renowned throughout the world for the high quality of its wines. They are spread over the villages of Grinzane Cavour, Serralunga d’Alba, Novello and Monforte d’Alba, and the town of Alba. The vineyards growing the Nebbiolo from which Barolo wine is made are located in Grinzane Cavour, Serralunga d’Alba and Novello, at altitudes varying between 250 and 350 m above sea level. The “Ginestre” vineyard in Grinzane Cavour faces south on marly-calcareous soil; the “Baudana” vineyard in Serralunga d’Alba faces south-west on sandyish calcareous soil, which gives Barolo more marked aromas; the “Sotto Castello” vineyard in Novello faces south-south-west on mainly marly soil, while the southernmost area of the vineyard is less fertile, with a higher content of tufa and limestone. Nebbiolo, Barbera, Dolcetto and Freisa are grown on vineyards at an altitude of around 350 m in the village of Monforte d’Alba. The “Chiese” vineyard is divided into two slopes: the first - facing south - is