Why it matters
The producer
Arturo Verrotti di Pianella came to wine without a family cellar behind him. He grew his interest over years and, in 2009, made it his livelihood, buying a nineteenth-century farmhouse at Sorì del Ricchino in Diano d'Alba and converting its barn into a working winery. Four guest rooms went in alongside the tanks. The vineyards followed: six to six-and-a-half hectares around the home property, and a separate holding of approximately one hectare of Nebbiolo in the Silio cru in La Morra, the municipality directly north.
Diano d'Alba is one of the eleven villages entitled to Barolo production, placing Rizieri inside the denomination from the start. Verrotti di Pianella has stayed owner-operated throughout, farming only estate vineyards and building a range that moves logically from a stainless-steel white through everyday Langhe reds to two Barolos of different weight.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
The Langhe is the hill country south of Alba in southern Piemonte, where the landscape folds into a series of steep ridges and the two great Nebbiolo appellations, Barolo and Barbaresco, define its southern and eastern flanks respectively. Diano d'Alba sits within the Barolo zone but on its eastern edge, separated from the Barolo communes of Castiglione Falletto and La Morra by a cluster of hills. Village-level Barolo from Diano d'Alba tends toward fruit-forward Nebbiolo, with enough tannin and acid to age but less of the iron severity that marks some Serralunga bottlings.
Rizieri's home vineyards sit at approximately 350 metres above sea level. The elevation and the surrounding woodland together moderate summer temperatures, slowing ripening through the warmest months. The separate La Morra parcel, where the Silio Barolo comes from, sits in a cooler, more westerly municipality known for Barolo with rounder tannin and floral lift from its generally more calcareous soils.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
All harvesting is done by hand, with grapes collected in small crates to keep bunches intact from vine to tank. Rizieri has eliminated herbicides from the vineyards and sows barley and legumes as cover crops between rows, feeding the soil through decomposition rather than chemical inputs. SQNPI certification formalises the sustainable-farming commitment. A photovoltaic installation on the cellar roof covers much of the estate's electricity use.
Fermentations across the range take place in temperature-controlled stainless-steel tanks. Rizieri avoids barriques throughout; the red wines that receive wood ageing go into lightly toasted large-format barrels rather than small new-oak casks. All red wines are bottled without filtration.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range spans five colours and styles from a single estate address.
Arvià is the Langhe Arneis, made from Arneis grown at the home estate in Diano d'Alba. Arneis is a white grape native to the Roero, across the Tanaro river from the Langhe, that delivers stone fruit, white flower, and almond notes in a light, dry style. Arvià is fermented in stainless steel and bottled young to preserve those aromatics. It carries no oak and no residual weight.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with the Barolo Silio 2018. It is a single hectare of Nebbiolo from the Silio cru in La Morra, macerated on the skins for approximately 20 days, through malolactic fermentation in wood, and bottled without filtration. The wine has dark cherry and dried rose on the nose, firm and layered tannin in the mouth, and a long mineral finish. Wine Enthusiast assessed the 2018 vintage and found tobacco, iron, and dried herbs alongside the fruit. The wine is approachable now but carries the depth to develop over a further decade.