Why it matters
The producer
Pico Maccario is a Piemontese estate assembled from scratch. In 1997, brothers Pico and Vitaliano Maccario purchased 70 hectares of vineyards in Mombaruzzo, a hillside village in the province of Asti, and built outward from there. The home ground is Monferrato, where clay-rich soils and the Barbera grape drive the main range. The Langhe expansion came later: Nebbiolo vineyards in Neive, Serralunga d'Alba, and the Barolo commune, including a parcel in Cannubi.
The estate now covers roughly 100 hectares across both territories. In July 2025, the Veronesi family's Oniwines project acquired the producer. The existing agronomic and oenological team was kept in place and the brand continues under the Pico Maccario name.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Mombaruzzo sits in the Monferrato hills between the Apennines and the Po plain, in a part of Piemonte that belongs to Barbera country. The province of Asti gives its name to the most important Barbera appellation in the zone, and it is from this address that the estate's range takes its character: medium-textured clay soils, warm-sloped hills, and a grape that thrives in the heat of the Asti interior.
The Langhe is a different geography: steeper, more northerly, built around Nebbiolo and its demand for altitude, aspect, and cool air. Neive is a commune in the Barbaresco zone. Serralunga d'Alba and the Barolo commune are Barolo territory, with soils that shift from the Helvetian sandstone of Serralunga toward the older Tortonian limestone-clay of Cannubi.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The Mombaruzzo estate holds a single 54-hectare parcel called Lavignone, the largest continuous Barbera block in the range. Selective harvesting focuses on picking decisions at the parcel level, choosing grape by grape rather than by date alone. The cellar uses stainless steel for wines where freshness and fruit are the target, and a mix of large barrels, tonneaux, and barriques for the Barbera and Nebbiolo wines that need oak contact.
Lavignone, as the estate's flagship Barbera, sees oak. The Serracapelli Barbaresco, drawn from the Neive vineyards, goes through barrel ageing that produces the firm tannin and cedar quality the wine is known for. Dolcevita, the Moscato d'Asti, takes a separate path: pressure-tank fermentation stops the process before full alcohol conversion, trapping the natural carbonation and leaving residual sweetness without stripping the wine's mineral freshness.
Wines to know
The range in view
Lavignone is the anchor. A Barbera from the 54-hectare home parcel in Mombaruzzo, it carries deep colour from the clay soils, ripe plum and cherry fruit, and enough tannin from oak contact to hold across a meal. It is full, generous, and built for wide appeal without losing its Barbera character: the acidity runs through the mid-palate and keeps the wine from going flat.
Serracapelli is the Barbaresco, made from Nebbiolo grown in Neive. The 2022 vintage earned 92 points from Falstaff, with notes of red plum, spice, and cedar, balanced tannin, and a long finish. It is firmer and more austere than Lavignone, with the Nebbiolo tannin giving it the structural backbone that Barbaresco requires.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with Lavignone. It is the wine the estate was built around: a single-parcel Barbera from the 54-hectare Mombaruzzo block, fermented and aged to give Piemontese Barbera its full character without overpowering oak. The colour is deep, the fruit is ripe plum and cherry, the acidity is firm but not aggressive, and the finish is long enough to earn a second glass. It is the most complete expression of what the Monferrato clay and the Maccario cellar do together, and it costs less than the Langhe wines while delivering more of the estate's founding logic than any other bottle in the range.