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© Il Botolo- Azienda Agricola.

The winery

Our winery, our values

Il Botolo Azienda Agricola is a family owned boutique Estate winery, founded in 2007 by Roberto de Silva, who combined his love of Monferrato, its history, its culture and its infinite rolling hills, and his dream and passion to create high quality wines. Today, Il Botolo produces wines from the best vines in the Piedmont terroir: Barbera, Moscato, Chardonnay and Brachetto.

Each year a total of 130 tons of grapes are harvested, to produce about 130,000 bottles. The wines are made with meticulous attention to detail and with love from vines planted on sunny slopes with south to southwest–southeast exposure, the best for growing high-quality grapes, to create white wines with a delightful variety of fruit flavors and rich, elegant and velvety red wines.

In short, hard work and nature are the strengths of our production, which reflect our commitment to an eco-compatible agriculture in order to protect the environment and the territory.

Today the Estate continues in its family tradition thanks to the dedication and love of Roberto De Silva’s wife, Diana De Silva, in her commitment to produce high quality products that valorize the Piedmont region.

A World Heritage land

“The vineyards of Langhe-Roero and Monferrato constitute an outstanding example of man’s interaction with his natural environment, associated with the wine production activities and an authentic and ancient art of winemaking recognized throughout the world”

With this motivation, the vineyard landscapes of Piedmont Langhe-Roero and Monferrato were declared part of the Unesco World Heritage Sites in 2014.

Made up of a core zone of 29 municipalities extending over 10,789 hectares, the territory is divided into 6 areas.

Among these, the area located in the Province of Asti, and which includes portions of the municipalities of Montegrosso, Mombercelli, Agliano Terme, Castelnuovo Calcea, Vinchio, Vaglio Serra and Nizza Monferrato, is considered the “capital” of Barbera. The Barbera vine variety has been cultivated for over 500 years and is considered the highest expression of this denomination. In this area Barbera is the leading grape variety grown, because the pedoclimatic conditions here are particularly favorable for its ripening. From its highly valued grapes, producers obtain Barbera d’Asti with special organoleptic qualities. For this reason, competent bodies recognized a very high value sub-area, limited to 18 municipalities where “Nizza” docg can be produced.

Il Botolo Azienda Agricola, with its 15 hectares of vineyards in Colombaro and Le Coccole, produces its typical wines in this very setting, in the heart of Monferrato.

THE LAND OF MONFERRATO

When I was a boy, I remember reading about Giovanni Spadalunga, the Marquis of Monferrato, elected head of the Super Parties by the Christian Crusaders.

I imagined him to be big and strong, clad in heavy armor, an undeniable peacemaker in heated disputes arising in the battlefield. He came from Monferrato, as did my grandfather, who I never met, but who I imagined to be as big and strong as the Marquis. My grandfather was just as invincible, because he came from the same land.

I learned about Monferrato as a child growing up. Monferrato is an incredible land, much of it hand-worked; it is a land made of iron, mixed with earth and water, hardened by the sun and wind for those who harvest wine grapes. Covered in beautiful woods and vineyards, Monferrato is known for its high- quality wines. Its verdant vineyards stretch out for kilometers, one row after another, over rolling hills and picturesque valleys, all hand-worked and hand-harvested. It is here that I imagined myself one day, like my grandfather before me, working the land and producing high quality wines.

The dream came true: here I am, with the odd aches and pains, working the land with the hopes to harvest grapes rich in sugars and extracts, to make great wines. This is how this small family-owned winery got started, where the vineyard reigns.

“Great wines are made in the vineyard”, as wisemen say.

ROBERTO DE SILVA

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