Diego Pressenda

Fifteen days on Nebbiolo skins

Skin contact for Barolo Le Coste di Monforte runs for about 15 days before the wine moves into large French oak. Diego Pressenda, winemaker at Diego Pressenda in Monforte d'Alba, works from a family estate in Località Sant'Anna, between Monforte d'Alba and Roddino, where the name on the bottle is also the name at the gate. The public record gives little of his apprenticeship, so the useful lineage here is the house itself: a family-run operation, sustainable in its vineyard thinking, with Silvia Pressenda, an enologist in the family, described as guiding a modern, environmentally conscious approach while keeping the wines tied to their Monforte character. The estate was opened in 2012 and works about 13 hectares of vines in the Langhe hills. Nebbiolo sits at the center because Barolo asks that of this place, but the bench is broader than one grape. Barbera, Dolcetto, Chardonnay and Riesling all have a place in the cellar program, alongside still red, still white and sparkling work. Pressenda’s authorship is not presented as theatre. It is carried through named bottles: Barolo Bricco San Pietro DOC, Barbera d’Alba Superiore Ariota, Barolo Barbadelchi, Barolo Le Coste di Monforte and Diego Pressenda Chardonnay.

Large oak, steel and a dry sparkling line

The method changes with the wine, rather than forcing one house gesture across the range. Barolo Le Coste di Monforte, from the Le Coste di Monforte vineyard in San Giuseppe, Monforte d’Alba, is 100% Nebbiolo from vines planted in 2008. After its maceration, it ages for 30 months in large French oak barrels, then rests for 12 months in bottle before release. The Dolcetto d’Alba Superiore takes another route: 6 days on skins, then 80% stainless steel with micro-oxygenation and 20% second-pass barrique for 10 months. Those choices keep the fruit close while giving the wine enough breadth for the table. The sparkling work is more unexpected for this corner of Piedmont. Spumante Metodo Classico Pas Dosè 3 Grappoli is made primarily from Dolcetto with a small portion of Riesling Renano, aged for 12 months on lees, with no dosage. Its first production used 2012 harvest grapes, a small but telling decision from a Barolo-area estate willing to let Dolcetto speak in another register.

A cellar below the Langhe hills

The cellar sits within a hillside property where vines, hospitality rooms and the tasting room belong to the same estate rhythm. The room is quiet, not hushed for effect, and the view does some of the orienting: Langhe rows, rolling hills, the kind of slope that explains why Nebbiolo is never just a grape name here. Guided tastings and cellar visits move between the working spaces and a panoramic room overlooking the vineyards. The atmosphere is domestic in the best sense, warm without performance, with the family presence felt in how the place joins wine, lunch or dinner, and the agriturismo side of La Torricella. The terrace makes the geography legible before the glass does. In the cellar, the long patience belongs to Barolo Le Coste di Monforte.