Why it matters
The producer
Silvio Busca began cultivating vines in Verduno in 1985, eight years before he made a bottle of wine. When he finally built the cellar and vinified the 1993 vintage, he called the estate Poderi Roset, taking the name from the local land it sits on. Busca is a trained wine technician, and that background runs through the operation: each of the five named parcels on the 15 hectares is assigned to a specific wine, so the range is as much a map of Verduno's hills as it is a product list.
Verduno is the northernmost Barolo village, quieter and less visited than La Morra or Barolo itself. Monvigliero, the great cru of the village, sits above the castle and produces Nebbiolo with the chalky lightness the area is known for. Busca farms parcels at Monvigliero for his cru Barolo, at Campasso and Olmo for his traditional Barolo, at Neirane for Barbera d'Alba, and at Dronera for Dolcetto and Verduno Pelaverga, the rare local red variety that almost only exists in this one village.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Verduno sits in the Langhe hills of Cuneo province, in southern Piedmont. The village gives its name to the Verduno Pelaverga DOC, a tiny appellation built around Pelaverga Piccolo, a grape found in meaningful commercial quantities in almost no other commune. Barolo DOCG also runs through Verduno, with Monvigliero recognised as one of the appellation's historic crus. The chalky soils of this northern Barolo village tend to produce Nebbiolo on the lighter, more aromatic end of the spectrum, with what one source describes as a hint of spice alongside the elegance the terrain produces.
Poderi Roset's address is Via Carlo Alberto 19, in the centre of the village. The cellar is open for tastings and direct sales.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The 15 hectares around Verduno are divided across five named sites. Monvigliero supplies the Barolo Cru and Barolo Monvigliero Riserva. Campasso and Olmo supply the traditional Barolo. Neirane supplies the Barbera d'Alba. Dronera supplies the Dolcetto d'Alba and the Verduno Pelaverga.
For Barolo, Busca uses 20 to 25 days of maceration and then ages the wine for around 24 months in those custom 2,500-litre casks, each built from half Slovenian and half French oak, between two and fifteen years old. The oak size matters: at 2,500 litres, the casks sit between a standard Barolo botte and a small French barrel, giving slower, gentler oxygen exchange than a barrique without the neutrality of a very large vessel.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range anchors on Barolo in three forms. The traditional Barolo draws from Campasso and Olmo, blending multiple Verduno vineyards into a single wine. The Barolo Cannubi moves to one of the most recognised Barolo crus, outside Verduno's immediate hills. The Barolo Monvigliero Riserva is the estate's top bottle, from the village's most famous site, given the extended ageing the Riserva designation requires.
Verduno Pelaverga is the estate's most distinctive wine by grape variety alone: Pelaverga Piccolo is a rare Piedmontese red with a musky, spiced aromatic profile and relatively light body. It spends no time in oak, just stainless steel and bottle, keeping the fruit and aromatics fresh.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Begin with the Verduno Pelaverga. It is not the estate's most serious wine, but it is the one that shows most clearly why Verduno exists as a distinct address. Pelaverga Piccolo is a Piedmontese variety that has survived in this one village and essentially nowhere else. Poderi Roset's version runs through eight to ten days of maceration, then stainless steel, keeping the grape's musky coffee, red cherry, and tobacco aromatics intact rather than smoothing them under oak. The palate brings raspberry alongside cherry, with firm acidity and tannins that need a year or two to settle.