PIEMONTE ORGANIC WINES - CASTELLO DI TASSAROLO, GAVI

I have never wanted to play by “the rules of the game”, an attitude which, if you believe in genetics, could be considered hereditary.

My father Paolo Spinola left Genova at a young age to start his career as a film director in Rome. I inhabited the world of cinema of my father and, in 1975, witnessed his passage from the filmmaking business to the winemaking one.

My grandfather had a large farming estate in the Gavi area, surrounding the Tassarolo Castle, a surviving fragment of the former state of Spinolino. He delighted in playing the role of the ‘landlord’, living at the pace of a bygone era.

In the mid-1970s my father and my uncle took over the farming and winemaking part, speeding things up a bit. In those days we used the big cellar under the Castle, a magical place with huge oak barrels, crevices covered with moss and a humid, uneven floor. I spent most of my time wandering around in the dark with a torch in my hand, observing the ceaseless repair works performed on the wooden staves of the giant oak barrels.
The garden and park of the Castle were my favourite places to observe, and experiment with, nature.

One of my ancestors, Massimiliano Spinola (1780-1857), had been a famous entomologist. His collection of insects and butterflies was kept in the tower of the castle. That was my point of attraction. I recently discovered that he died on the same day that I was born: 12 November. Ever since I can remember, I have loved Nature, animals and insects. I have felt like I am part of the whole, instead of going against it. I reunited with Nature here in the winery, when I moved back to Tassarolo from London in 2005. After graduating from university, I had travelled the world, worked in art and lived in New York and London, but I had never broken my bond with the winery. And when I arrived here with my son of a few months I instantly understood that the winery could become my next “art work” through which to express my values and ideals.

Here I could transform life into my own creation. The conversion to biodynamic agriculture felt like a mandatory step, one year after my arrival. I have had some very special people by my side along the way, who believed in what I was doing. But in particular, two people have been most influential: Bonifacio Spinola, a distant relative from the branch of the Spinola family in Rome, but who is actually closer to me than a brother and who became my associate with whom I work hand in hand and Miri Velli, a strict but fair counsellor who runs the cellar and the vineyards and has put his heart and soul into the winery.

Massimiliana Spinola

WHITE

IL CASTELLO GAVI D.O.C.G.2023 - Organic and Vegan

The hilly area of Castello di Tassarolo’s vineyards is in a class of its own for having all the characteristics needed for making great wine. Right from the winter pruning and later with the careful Biodynamic cultivation of the vines, it enjoys special attention, which is rewarded by the particular quality of the grapes it yields.

In their completeness they express everything that is meant by the term Superiore. The late harvest, exclusively by hand, a light cold maceration and a gentle pressing aimed at a maximum yield of must of not more than 60%, allow us to ferment a must with the special qualities which will later come to characterise the wine. The fermentation is conducted at very low temperature. Once, the wine is made, every operation, right up to bottling, is aimed at preserving the quality we seek. Contains sulphites.

TASTING NOTES : Colour shows an Acacia honey yellow of good intensity with captivating greenish tints. Bouquet : Intense aroma with floral and ripe citrus notes. Taste : Elegant, delicate, lively and lingering flavour.

FOOD PAIRING : An excellent aperitif. It can accompany fish dishes, white meat, young and mature cheese, seafood pasta, rice dishes and vegetables salad as well as crudités.

Serving temperature: 9-10° C