Why it matters
The producer
Most of the vines on Pugnane hill had been growing for over ninety years before anyone at Poderi Fogliati bottled a single grape from them. The family owned the land for decades, farmed it, and sold the fruit to other producers. That arrangement ended in 2016, when Annalisa Chiappa left her law practice in Miami and came back to the Langhe with her brother Guido to make the estate's first wine.
Annalisa Chiappa is the name the estate carries now. She and Guido renovated the family villa, committed to organic farming across the estate's plots on the hills between Castiglione Falletto and Monforte d'Alba, and harvested their first grapes in the same year they arrived. The estate produces Barolo from two distinct vineyard positions, plus a Langhe Nebbiolo and smaller volumes of Dolcetto and Barbera d'Alba Superiore.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Pugnane hill sits at the northern edge of Bussia, one of the most debated and most valued crus in Barolo. Bussia is formally within the commune of Monforte d'Alba, and its south-facing aspect is a recurring argument for why its Nebbiolo reaches full ripeness in a variety that needs heat and a long season. Pugnane is the transitional ground where Bussia's northern reach meets Castiglione Falletto, the commune immediately north.
That communal boundary runs through the estate's vineyards. The Bussia parcel sits fully within Monforte, with unbroken southern exposure. The Treturne vineyard straddles the line between Monforte and Castiglione Falletto, which gives it a different thermal character: slightly cooler and with more morning exposure than a pure Bussia plot. Both parcels are farmed under organic certification, no synthetic inputs.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Harvest begins in early October when temperatures start to fall across the Langhe hills, and all picking is done by hand. For Nebbiolo at this elevation and exposure, late-season temperature drops after a warm summer are what lock in the balance between ripe tannin and acid line. Picking by hand allows sorting in the vineyard before anything reaches the cellar.
Vinification starts in steel tanks, which preserves the grape's fruit character and acidity before the wine moves to wood. Ageing takes place in large oak casks, a traditional format in Barolo that imparts oxygen without adding heavy oak flavour. The Barolo Bussia undergoes a vintage-dependent period of skin maceration that changes from year to year depending on the harvest. The Barolo Treturne 2020 was macerated for thirty-five days and then matured for eighteen months in fifty-hectolitre Stockinger botti and cement vats. The Langhe Nebbiolo spends approximately nine months in large oak before bottling. No new wood is used across the range.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range centres on three expressions of Nebbiolo from different elevations and positions on Pugnane hill and its margins.
Barolo Bussia comes from the fully south-facing old-vine parcels within Monforte d'Alba, with vines over ninety years old. The south exposure pushes Nebbiolo toward full tannin development and ripe dark fruit; the old vines moderate yields and concentrate what reaches the press. Skin maceration builds the grape's firm tannic backbone, and the wine spends its required time in large oak before release. This is the estate's most historically grounded bottle.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with the Barolo Treturne. It comes from the vineyard on the Monforte and Castiglione Falletto boundary, which gives it more freshness and approachability in its first decade than the more concentrated Bussia. The 2020 was macerated for thirty-five days and spent eighteen months in large Stockinger botti and cement vats: old-format élevage that keeps the fruit clean while building the long finish Barolo needs. Dried rose, tar, dark cherry, firm tannin, and enough acid to carry the wine through 2036. It is the bottle that shows the house's traditional method and the hill's character without requiring the patience that the oldest vines demand.