Cappellano’s methods, both in the vineyards and in the cellar, are time-tested, straightforward, and unobtrusive. Augusto farms his three hectares of Gabutti without synthetic chemicals, working the steep west-oriented face of the slope—the old heart of the cru before it was expanded—totally by hand. Plenty of cover crop is maintained; the soil teems with life. The wines ferment naturally, as they always have, in enormous open-top Slavonian casks, sometimes with a submerged cap, sometimes without, as the vintage dictates. Aging takes place in 50-hectoliter Slavonian oak, with minimal sulfur adjustments, and clarification only through gravity and patience. The Barbera—which the family refuses to rip up although they could triple their asking price by replanting it to Nebbiolo—is treated with the same dignity as the Barolo, a testament to the family’s defiant and proud traditionalism.
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