Cisterna d’Asti is a delightful town in the hills of Asti near the Roero region of Piedmont. We live at the crossroads between the villages of Cisterna and Canale. The name of our village probably derives from the large cistern in the main hall of our Medieval castle. Built in the 10th century, it stands on a hilltop 350 meters above sea level, majestically overlooking the surrounding lands and offering a breathtaking panorama. Today it is the site of the Museum of Arts and Trades. An old legend says that during one of his military campaigns, the Roman emperor Frederick Barbarossa was daunted when we saw the many grape vines cloaking the hillsides suddenly transform into a thicket of swords and spears. The emperor decided wisely to beat a retreat, but not before having slaked his thirst at the local spring, immersed in a grove of oaks. Since then the fountain has been known as the ‘Fountain of Barbarossa’. A fresco in the church of San Gervasio recounts the legendary episode and represents the oldest surviving testimony of the cultivation of grapes in the zone.

The hillside soils of Cisterna were formed millions of years ago when the sea covered everything up to the foothills of the Alps. As it gradually receded, it left enormous deposits of sand mixed with compact, impermeable marl with a wealth of fossils (which we still find today). What had once been the sea bed, is now hills and valleys.

THE VINEYARDS

We grow our wine on three hectares of vineyards split evenly between the towns of Canale and Cisterna. We love and respect nature and the environment, producing our wines in a way to ensure minimal environmental impact (integrated production) in line with EC Regulation 1257/99.

We grow our Nebbiolo and Barbera d’Alba in the sandy, almost gravely soils of the “Vialunga” vineyard. We produce our Arneis in a vineyard overlooking the small church dedicated to the Madonna of Loreto. Meanwhile, our Croatina and Barbera d’Asti grapes find their ideal environment in the calcareous sands and south-southeast exposures of the Cisterna vineyards (Roche and Via ad’Lame).