Cantine Merlone

The Merlone family, rooted in the Olmetto hamlet of Cossombrato, has been dedicated to farming and winemaking since time immemorial. Grandfather Emilio loved to recount his parents' arduous labors: the manual excavations in the hard tuff, the replanting due to phylloxera, and the initial studies to improve production. In 1946, the first qualitative leap was made with the official establishment of the company, which exported wines to its Canavese headquarters. The decision to build a new headquarters in Cossombrato dates back to 1965, taking over the old 18th-century cellar dug into the tuff and excavating an adjacent farm belonging to the Pelletta counts. The oldest part of the cellar has retained its original appearance and houses the oak barrels and modern barriques for aging the finest wines, as well as a characteristic "croutin," the remains of an ancient icehouse.

Over the following years, the winery's development, overseen by his son Giancarlo, involved three radical renovations to its facilities: the purchase of stainless steel tanks, a nitrogen production system, and cross-flow filtration. Production has also evolved, adding to the traditional wines a range of quality wines demanded by the market. 

The Merlone winery has always chosen to collaborate with small and medium-sized winemakers to purchase its grapes. This has allowed it to guarantee the variety of wines made from typical Piedmontese cultivars and monitor the quality and healthiness of the grapes year after year. Over time, the production and delivery of grapes to the cellar have changed: from ox-drawn tubs to the first tractors, to trucks. Now, the grapes are personally collected in crates at the edges of the rows.

The cellar is equipped with the most modern equipment for careful winemaking: selected yeasts, controlled temperatures, meticulous pumping over, and gentle pressing allow each wine to maintain its distinctive character.

Cantine Merlone produces the following wines:

- Red only stainless steel
Barbera d'Asti DOCG, Grignolino d'Asti DOC, Freisa d'Asti DOC, Ruchè di Casteganole Monferrato DOCG

- Red in barrels
Barbera d'Asti Superiore DOCG, Piemonte Albarossa DOC, Monferrato Nebbiolo DOC, Vino Rosso Nerè

- Sweet wine
Malvasia di Castelnuovo don Bosco DOC.