Why it matters
The producer
In 2000, Diego Conterno walked away from Conterno-Fantino, the modern Piemontese house he had co-founded eighteen years earlier, to farm his family's parcels in Monforte d'Alba under his own name. The thing he was going back for was a two-hectare plot in the Ginestra vineyard he had planted himself in 1982. He took no partner and no borrowed reputation. The first bottle under the Diego Conterno label came from the 2003 harvest.
His son Stefano joined the estate in 2010. The operation covers 7.5 hectares across Monforte, with Nebbiolo at the centre and Barbera, Dolcetto, and the indigenous white grape Nascetta filling out the range.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Monforte d'Alba sits in the southern Langhe hills of Piemonte, one of eleven communes whose soils and Nebbiolo grapes legally define Barolo. Within Monforte, Ginestra is among the most discussed crus: a broad south-facing slope rising above the village, with soils mixing Helvetian limestone and compacted blue-grey Tortonian marl. The altitude and aspect slow ripening, which in Nebbiolo means longer hang time, firmer tannin, and wines built for ageing rather than early drinking.
The Ginestra MGA (Menzione Geografica Aggiuntiva) is the name that appears on single-vineyard Barolo labels from the cru. Lower in the range, the Barolo del Comune di Monforte label signals a blend from multiple Monforte parcels, a commune-level classification that places territory above single-site specificity.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
All parcels are farmed organically. No herbicides, no synthetic treatments. The vineyards are managed to keep yields low and give the fruit its best chance to express the Monforte soils.
In the cellar, Diego uses static fermenters rather than rotary tanks. Static fermentation is slower and gentler, extracting colour and tannin through natural cap management rather than mechanical punch-down cycles, which preserves more aromatic complexity and finer-grained tannin in Nebbiolo. Aging takes place in large traditional botte grande, the 25 to 50 hectolitre Slavonian oak casks used in classical Piemontese cellars. These casks breathe slowly and impart almost no oak flavour; they allow the wine to develop over time without adding vanilla or toasted wood character. Barolo opens with an earthy, floral complexity and firms up into its tannin over years, not months.
Wines to know
The range in view
The Barolo del Comune di Monforte is a blend from the Pajana and Gris parcels within the Ginestra cru. These two plots differ in aspect and soil composition; blended, they produce a Barolo that shows the breadth of Ginestra rather than the character of a single piece of it. The wine sits on firm Nebbiolo tannin, with dried rose, tar, and dark cherry at the centre, and the mineral austerity that Monforte limestone tends to give. It is built to age for at least a decade.
The single-vineyard Ginestra Barolo isolates the two-hectare parcel planted in 1982. Older vines and a narrower selection mean deeper colour, more concentrated fruit, and a longer finishing grip. It needs more time than the commune bottling and rewards cellaring.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Barolo del Comune di Monforte is the right first bottle. It blends the Pajana and Gris parcels within Ginestra, so it gives Monforte and the Ginestra cru together before the single-vineyard version asks for a committed cellar. Dried rose and tar on the nose, firm drying tannin in the mouth, high acidity, a long mineral finish. It is classically made Barolo: no oak flavour from the botte grande, no extraction shortcut from the static fermenters. Drink it at ten years from vintage if you can wait, or open it now with several hours of air and a good reason.