The Cantina del Nebbiolo winery is located in the village of Vezza d’Alba, in the area known as Borbore along the main road between Alba and Canale. Rebuilt in 1959 under this name, the origins of the wine cellar go back to 1901, when a Parish Co-operative Winery was founded in the village to make a sweet white communion wine from the Favorita grape-variety. The cellar brings together 175 growers who farm 235 hectares of vineyards located in 18 villages including Vezza d’Alba. In vintage 2008 a total of 2,200 tons of Barbera, Nebbiolo, Dolcetto, Arneis, Favorita, Brachetto, Bonarda and Freisa grapes are transformed here into wine.
Sun-drenched vineyards, farmed according to traditional methods, guarantee that the end product will be blessed with excellent tasting properties. The tending of the vineyards is what the quality of both the grapes and the resulting wine depend on, so the standards and timing of all the phenological phases in the growth of the vine right through to the harvest are laid down by a professional agronomist.
The wine-making process is carried out in modern stainless steel equipment, with the grapes being selected on the basis of their area of origin, their degree of ripeness, and the age of the vineyard. This lays the foundations for the production of the cellar’s various selections and types of wine.
Under the expert, watchful eye of the winemaker, the red grapes are vinified following the traditional process of crushing-destemming, maceration on the skins at a controlled temperature, inoculation of selected yeasts, and drawing off to separate the wine-must from the solid parts of the grapes.

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The white grapes are pressed softly before being left to ferment at a controlled temperature so that each lot is able to express its properties to the full. The wines produced are awarded D.O.C. status under the various Alba, Roero, Langhe and Piemonte Denominazione di Origine Controllata laws, subject to the checks performed by the regulatory bodies.
All the wines can be tasted and purchased at the winery’s sales outlet.

The particular climate and moderate fertility of the wine-growing soil in the area have certainly affected how the vines are trained and pruned.
The morphological conformation of the ground in the Roero led to the choosing of a contour planting system using a free-standing espalier and Guyot pruning, with a moderate number of buds per vine: 8 to 14 per fruit cane, depending on the variety. Limiting the yield on a large number of vines per hectare makes it possible to achieve high levels of quality.
Preferential areas have been selected for the various grape-varieties on the basis of their exposure to the sun and the properties of the soil. This ensures that the potential of each variety will be developed to the full, and that the grapes will be provided with a unique combination of characteristics.
The cellar provides the growers - who are often forced to work the vineyards by hand, because many of the slopes are too steep to be worked by machine - with the support of an expert agronomist, who recommends the most effective and environmentally-friendly products to use and when action should be taken, as well as co-operating with the winemaker in deciding when the grapes should be picked.