The winery was established on 26th February 1959 by 19 winegrowers from Vinchio and Vaglio Serra and it now has 192 associates who own and run approximately 450 hectars of vineyards.
The vineyards are cultivated with a wide range of local grape varieties: Barbera (also called “the ruby of Vinchio”), Dolcetto, Cortese, Grignolino, Nebbiolo, Brachetto, Moscato, Freisa and Bonarda but also some international varieties such as Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Sauvignon and Viognier as our hills offer the perfect conditions for them to grow.
The vineyards of our associates are mostly in Vinchio and Vaglio Serra with only a few in neighbouring areas. The majority overhang steep slopes, making their tending extremely difficult on one hand but ensuring a perfect sunlight exposure throughout the day on the other. These optimal conditions contribute towards a high sugar content, that together with the mineral composition of the soil, determine the unique character of top-quality wines.
Our pursuit of excellence doesn’t end with the way we tend our vineyards; it goes far beyond that: we use state-of-the-art equipment and modern winemaking techniques. Our winery boasts a brand-new bottling line with ultramodern equipment for the filling and packaging of bottles and Magnums as well as incorporating a practical and eco-friendly Bag-in-Box packaging. Our more prestigious wines are kept in a large barrique cellar, excavated from the hillside. This environment guarantees constant, natural temperature and humidity for the wines while they age inside their barriques and French oak barrels.
In order to reach and improve our objectives in meeting our customers’ demands, we have implemented over the years a series of certified measures of quality management and environment, as well as for work and food safety in accordance with the UNI EN ISO 9001, UNI EN ISO 14001, UNI EN ISO 22000 and ISO45001 standards.
Vinchio Vaglio has a modern store where you can taste our excellent wines in a pleasant and relaxed atmosphere.
Hospitality has always been at the core of our business. We are pleased to offer wine tasting both indoors, in our store and in the cellars, and outdoors in the garden next to the winery and on various walking trails. One of the most scenic and fascinating walking routes is the Nests’ Trail, which runs through the nature reserve of the Sarmassa Valley and its vineyards.
It all started with Vinchio Castle
An ancestral castle of the Cooperative? It may seem fanciful yet it was precisely in the medieval Vinchio Castle, demolished in the nineteenth century, that an early but effi cient form of cooperation between farmers was established and prospered in the eighteenth century for the administration of the town’s livestock, cellars and granary.
An aptitude for collaboration that would prove to be long lasting.
1959, the Winery is founded
After many meetings held to overcome the ancient rivalry between the two Municipalities, the Cooperative Cellar of Vinchio and Vaglia Serra was established in February 1959, as a response to an extremely punitive market situation for farm work and its economic sustainability. Th e grapes were sold at very low prices to those who turned them into wine, often in other areas of Piedmont.
The early years
After long discussions to decide whether the Cellar should be built in Vinchio or Vaglio Serra, flat land was identified at the boundary between the two communities on which all agreed and the winegrowers themselves carried out the construction works at a forced pace in order to be able to produce grapes for harvest that year of 1959. Efforts that also continued in subsequent years.
The choice of quality
If the idea of building a cooperative winery to make the production of grapes more profi table was extremely prophetic, the notion that these grapes should go to make quality wines was even more so. Yet that was how it was from the start and the winery immediately became a benchmark for anyone seeking quality, in particular based on Barbera. Th e project “Vigne Vecchie” (Old Vines) was launched in 1985 to make the most of vines that were more than 50 years old.
Quality, also in the bottle
Vinchio Vaglio was established to give a strong message that cooperation can give rise to a highquality product and many Piedmontese producers, in fact, bought wine for bottling right from the start. That’s why Carlo Petrini ( founder of Slow Food) described Vinchio Vaglio as “the mother of all Barberas”. From 2001, the newly-elected President Lorenzo Giordano decided to employ staff to boost the marketing of its own brand.
Barbera in all its forms
Thanks to the variety of the vineyards, the versatility of the vine and the experience gained from years in the cellar, today at Vinchio Vaglio Barbera is produced in several variations. From the fresh and aromatic “Vigne Vecchie 50” to the historic “I Tre Vescovi”, which has represented it for decades, the “Vigne Vecchie Superiore” aged in oak and the “Sei vigne Insynthesis”, the utmost expression of the Barbera vine, produced only in the best vintages.
Next stop: the territory
The Winery’s latest challenge is now the protection and enhancement of the territory, a UNESCO World Heritage area since 2014, the origin of the grapes that produce its wines. For this reason, Vinchio Vaglio bought part of the wood adjacent to the cellar bordering the Val Sarmassa Nature Reserve; it restored the ancient path, providing tables, fountains and the original “nests”, structures in hand-woven willow that protect the picnic tables from too much sun and wind while leaving the proper gaps to allow the splendid surrounding countryside and the harvest to be enjoyed in a family atmosphere.
