Why it matters
The producer
Giovanni Lodali started making wine in 1939 not to build a cellar empire but to fill the glasses at his restaurant in Treiso. That practical origin, wine grown and poured in the same village, shaped everything that followed. The estate now carries his name in a modified form, Azienda Agricola Lodali Walter, with Walter being Giovanni's grandson and the third generation to work these 16 hectares of Langhe vines.
Walter runs the estate alongside his mother Rita, known locally as Mamma Rita. The operation is small and deliberate: Barbaresco as the central wine, Nebbiolo as the central grape, Treiso as the address that does not change.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Treiso is one of three comuni that together form the Barbaresco DOCG zone in southern Piemonte, alongside the villages of Barbaresco and Neive. Barbaresco is a red wine made exclusively from Nebbiolo, and the appellation law requires a minimum of 26 months ageing with at least 9 of those months in wood. The Lodali estate sits entirely within this zone.
Treiso sits on the southern side of the Tanaro river valley, on slopes that face broadly northeast. Wines from Treiso tend to carry slightly softer tannin than those from the Serralunga area in nearby Barolo, though Nebbiolo grown anywhere in these hills still builds firm tannin and bright, food-sharpening acidity. The Barbaresco zone as a whole produces wines that are leaner and higher-acid than the big Barolo communes to the west, and Treiso sits comfortably within that profile.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The estate farms approximately 16 hectares in Treiso. The Giacone vineyard supplies the fruit for Lorens, the flagship Barbaresco.
In the cellar, Lorens spends 25 months in 25-hectolitre Austrian oak barrels before a further 12 months in bottle before release. The barrel size matters: at 25 hectolitres, the ratio of wine to wood surface is lower than in a standard 225-litre barrique, which means the wine extracts less tannin and vanilla character from the oak itself. The Nebbiolo's own tannin, rather than oak-derived tannin, sets the wine's tannin profile. Acidity is preserved rather than softened, and fruit character reads as dark cherry and dried rose rather than vanilla or toast.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range centres on two appellations: Barbaresco DOCG for the Nebbiolo-based wines, and Langhe DOC for the broader range.
Lorens is the prestige Barbaresco: 100% Nebbiolo from the Giacone vineyard in Treiso, aged 25 months in large Austrian oak barrels followed by 12 months in bottle. It is the longest-aged wine in the range and the one that most clearly expresses the estate's cellar philosophy. Firm tannin, high acidity, and dark fruit built on a Nebbiolo base that the large-format oak has left largely undisturbed.