In 1977 Ernesto Saffirio encouraged his daughter Josetta, teacher at the School of Enology in Alba, and Roberto Vezza, also an enologist, to take over the care for his vines planted in Castelletto, part of Montforte d'Alba Barolo appellation. After several years of work the ambitious aim of producing a great Barolo came into closer reach as the two were finally able to make a Barolo in 1985 for the first time under their own label. Soon thereafter important recognition rewarded their hard work, such as the 'Three Glasses' from the Gambero Rosso, with awards for the 1988 and 1989 vintage.
As the small estate was developing, Dolcetto and Barbera were added into the Vineyards, and as once Josetta's father, Ernesto, passed his vines on to the next generations, these new vineyards were in turn dedicated to Josetta and Roberto's children, Sara and Alessio.
As Sara and Alessio had to finish school, the Saffirio's decided after 1992 that for a while they could no longer dedicate sufficient attention in the cellar and limited themselves to growing grapes which were sold to neighbours. However this allowed them to focus entirely on the development of their vineyards and grew the estate to a total of 5 hectares planted in vine, most of which is dedicated to Nebbiolo in the Barolo cru of 'Castelletto', in the heart of the Langhe.
In 1997 Sara made the decision to return to the home winery and was the driving force behind the decision to start bottling again in 1999, a vintage where only 1,000 bottles were produced. And it is this dimension that best defines the actual state of the winery, a small cellar paired with huge amounts of passion and enthusiasm.
A total of 5 hectares of vineyards are today owned by the Estate, with most vineyards at 3 -15 years of age , primarily planted to Nebbiolo, and one old vine vineyard with 48 year old vines. Other varieties include Rossese Bianco, and small lots of Merlot and Barbera.