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Wines by Elio Altare - Cascina Nuova |
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Elio Altare - Cascina Nuova
The story of Elio Altare’s rise
to fame and renown is hardly the charming family tale of
customs passed from father to son through the generations.
This ambitious man began in the wine business under his
father, a ‘contadino’ or grower who sold the
crop of his estate, Cascina Nuova, to dealers ever since
its inception in 1948. The young Altare was enraged by the
miserable quality of the wine around him, a product of wineries
that preferred to defer purchasing grapes until the desperate
contadini would accept paltry recompense. With a handful
of companions, he looked to the illustrious estates of Burgundy
and Bordeaux that fetched what then seemed to him to be
unthinkable prices. Determined to right the situation in
his native Barolo he journeyed to Burgundy, where production
and business practices bewitched him, and he returned home
eager to institute the methods he had discovered.
Elio’s passion for Burgundian winemaking
techniques did not sit well with his father, and a rocky
period ensued; the son even destroyed the family’s
barrels with a chainsaw, pushing his father to disinherit
him entirely. Sadly, it was not until after his father’s
death in 1985 that Elio’s sisters, who now owned Cascina
Nuova, passed the estate back to their brother and he began
production as he saw fit. From that point on Altare dove
into a system of extremely short maceration periods, aging
in barriques, and – most importantly in his own eyes
– strict control of yields in the vineyard.
Altare is still outspoken, mercilessly
mocking what he calls ‘tipicità’ or typicity.
However, it is not tradition he disdains but rather the
conservative closed-mindedness that prevents some producers
from accepting new techniques. In fact, he wholeheartedly
applauds winemakers with diverse methodologies who live
harmoniously among one another. Above all, Altare believes
that Barolo should give pleasure to those who drink it.
His rich, concentrated Barolos are a testament to his success,
and he is still fine-tuning production methods to please
his audience even further.
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