Nuova Cappelletta was founded by Giuseppe Fracchia, born on 19 March 1901 in the town of Quattordio, not far from Vignale Monferrato.
Son of farmers, thanks to the earnings of the father small vineyard, Giuseppe graduated in Engineering in Turin, emigrated to the USA, where was hired by GE in Schenectady, NY, where he focused on electrical and insulating technologies.
Giuseppe soon came back to Italy where he started several manufacturing Companies near his home town, together with his brother in law Cesare Pettazzi, reaching an employment of around 4,000 workers by the 1960s.
In 1965 Giuseppe purchased the land of Counts Callori in Vignale Monferrato and started Nuova Cappelletta, to pursue his dream of quality agricolture.
In the early eighties his daughter Adele Fracchia Uslenghi converted the farm to organic and biodynamic agriculture.
The effort was not only to avoid the use of chemicals but also to promote a more aware method of cultivation with the permanent target to increase and preserve the land fertility.
Today her son Alessandro is the full time manager of the estate, and he continues the tradition of innovation in respect for nature.
The vineyards of Nuova Cappelletta are located on the hilly fields that belong to the estate, and are interrupted by fields in rotation or pastures.
The terrain lies on top of a layer of sea deposits from the Miocenic period and a geological boundary crosses the estate from north to south.
Our vines are guyot-trained. The fruiting heads are pruned to 5-7 buds and grass is grown between the rows in order to create a competitive environment, where the vines respond by naturally limiting their output.
The plants are protected and treated with substances of animal, mineral and plant origin, as certified by the body for organic farming (CCPB).
The biodynamic method is monitored by the Demeter technicians.
The Collina Vineyard: is situated in the area of the same name in Vignale Monferrato and covers 12 hectares. Half of which is dedicated to Grignolino, while the other half is used for Barbera, Cortese and Chardonnay.
The vineyard is south-west facing with an average incline of 30°.
The Montalbava Vineyard: bears Chardonnay and Freisa on about 3.5 hectares and is situated on a south facing hilltop with light soil which allows for a slightly earlier harvest than other areas.
The Minola Vineyard: is adjacent to the Montalbava vineyard. It covers 3 hectares and is located in the Barbera area of Vignale Monferrato.
Its south-facing aspect, loose soil and sheltered position all make this vineyard particularly suitable for the cultivation of Barbera, which can be harvested right into late October, allowing for an excellent natural ripening of the fruit.
The Rinalda Vineyard: measures four hectares and is entirely dedicated to growing Barbera. This area which in the past also held small vineyards was chosen also for its southerly exposure.
The Novareto Vineyard: it is a natural amphiteater facing south-south-east. It measures six hectares and is dedicated to growing by barbera, grignolino and nebbiolo in equal parts.
The constant breeze that blows on this ridge from spring to autumn allow late harvest with very healty grapes.
Il sito è caratterizzato da una brezza costante che soffia su questo crinale dalla primavera all´autunno inoltrato permettendo raccolti tardivi.
The Guerra Vineyard: this two, east-facing, hectares of Freisa are located in a small valley with cool winds blowing from all directions making spring freezes more usual than elsewhere.
The Nuova Cappelletta winery "il Portone" is where all operations from grape to bottle take place.
The winery is in a large, horseshoe-shaped, XVI century building constructed with traditional materials: huge blocks of tuff alternated with layers of smaller baked-clay bricks, with the lower cellars carved in the rock.
Today they are used for maturing the wine in French oak barrels. These premises also house the modern stainless steel equipment for pressing the grapes, making the wine, storing and bottling it.
It was not an easy task getting the new equipment into the old buildings, but all has been done in full respect of the original architecture and today's regulations.
All wine containers are stainless steel and over a third of those are insulated, and temperature controlled so that the wine can be kept cool to allow the tartaric salts in excess to deposit, and to protect its quality during the summer.
The wine is filtered using state of the art equipment that preserves the original sensitive characteristics present in the grapes.
Each single stock of wine is treated with maximum care, and frequently checked by our oenologists. This results in sound and healthy wines with a very low content of sulfites.
Part of the premises have been recently refurbished to house a wine tasting reception area.