Treiso · Barbaresco DOCG · Piedmont
Cascina Alberta
The Origin
Two Careers Left on the Table
Francesco Guermani was a professional touring golfer. His brother Luca was a chef working in Milan. In 2011 they walked away from both careers to purchase a farmhouse in Treiso, a Langhe hillside village in the heart of the Barbaresco DOCG, from Giuseppe Contratto, of the Contratto sparkling wine family. Neither Guermani had a winemaker father or a cellar full of century-old barrels. What they had was the land, and the patience to learn it.
The estate had been producing Nebbiolo since at least 1979, when the first vineyards were registered. The farmhouse itself dates to 1927. The brothers acquired 19 total hectares, 9 of which were already planted to vine, with parcels qualifying under two separate MGAs. The classified menzioni geografiche aggiuntive that function as Barbaresco's premier cru system.
Today Francesco oversees the winemaking and vineyard operations. Luca manages the estate's boutique agriturismo. The Cascina Alberta Wine Shop + Suites, from a position that allows the property to sustain itself beyond the bottling room. Every vintage is a continuation of the pivot they made in 2011.
The Land
Treiso: Structure Before Perfume
Barbaresco DOCG spans three communes: the village of Barbaresco itself, Neive, and Treiso. Each imposes a distinct character on the Nebbiolo grown within it. Treiso, the highest and most calcareous of the three, produces wines of greater tannin, density, and structural longevity than the sandier, more aromatic expressions found directly below the Barbaresco village tower.
Cascina Alberta holds parcels in two of Barbaresco's 66 legally recognized MGAs. The Giacone sub-zone, from which the estate's primary Barbaresco is made, sits on south-facing calcareous limestone slopes at 350 meters. Vines averaging 40 to 60 years old extract concentration from soils that require patience: the structure in young vintages is genuine, not extracted, and the calcareous mineral signature remains present across all fruit expression. A second MGA holding, Serragrilli, rounds out the estate's classified terroir.
The combination of altitude, south exposure, limestone subsoil, and older vine density creates the conditions that produce Barbaresco built for the decade after its release, not the night of purchase.
| Commune | Treiso (Barbaresco DOCG) |
| MGAs | Giacone & Serragrilli |
| Altitude | 350 metres |
| Exposure | South & South-Southwest |
| Soils | Calcareous, limestone-rich |
| Vine age | 40–60 years |
| Yield | 55 hL/hectare |
| Grape | 100% Nebbiolo |
| Farming | ICEA-certified organic (2019) |
Farming
Pesticide-Free From Year One
When Francesco and Luca acquired the estate in 2011, they committed to pesticide-free viticulture immediately. Not as a marketing decision, but as a condition of how they wanted to work the land. That discipline ran through the estate's transition years without formal certification until 2019, when Cascina Alberta received its ICEA organic certificate.
In the cellar, the philosophy mirrors the vineyard. Fermentation relies on indigenous yeasts native to each vintage, a population shaped by the specific microflora of the Giacone site rather than commercial inoculants calibrated for consistency. Maceration runs a full 30 days with daily pump-overs, longer than the majority of modern Barbaresco producers, extracting the polyphenol depth needed to sustain 20-plus years of development. Malolactic fermentation completes in large Slavonian oak. The wine then ages 18 months in neutral botti before 12 months in bottle prior to release. No filtration. Sulfites held to 30–50 mg/L total.
The large neutral oak is not a stylistic affectation but a deliberate choice: these vessels allow slow, controlled oxidation while contributing nothing of their own. The wine's identity, limestone, old vine concentration, the specific vintage, is left undisturbed.
Critical Recognition
Peak Potential, Still Being Discovered
Wine Enthusiast · 2021 Barbaresco Giacone
"Rounded and velvety texture with cola notes; crushed rose petals, wild strawberry, orange peel, white pepper."
The 2017 and 2014 vintages, both exceptional in the Langhe, earned 94 points from Wine Enthusiast, establishing that Giacone can reach the upper tier of Barbaresco critical recognition. The 2020 vintage currently in the US portfolio brings the full character of the vineyard: rose petal, red berry, star anise, and white pepper over fine-grained tannins built for the decade ahead.
The Table Story
For Your Guests
Two brothers from outside the wine industry walked away from their careers in 2011 to buy a farmhouse in Treiso and learn how to make Barbaresco. Francesco was a professional golfer. Luca was a chef. Neither had a winemaker father or a cellar full of century-old barrels.
What they had was the Giacone vineyard, one of the 66 classified sub-zones of Barbaresco, with 40-to-60-year-old vines on calcareous, south-facing slopes at 350 meters. They stopped using pesticides within the first year. By 2019 they were certified organic. They ferment with wild yeasts, age in large neutral oak, and don't filter their wines.
Treiso produces more structured, tannic Barbaresco than the village itself: wines built to age. The Giacone is that wine: a 30-day maceration, a slow release of tannin over 18 months in big casks, and a patience in the bottle that rewards cellaring through the 2030s. With a 94-point ceiling and a 2020 that drinks beautifully right now, this is the kind of producer story you tell at the table, and the wine will finish the story for you.
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Exclusive US rights through The Italian Connection. Single-vineyard MGA Barbaresco, ICEA organic, discovery producer with demonstrated 94-point potential.
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