Italy · Langhe

Azienda Agricola Renato Corino

La Morra Barolo estate founded in 2005 on the Arborina cru, making four Barolo designations from village label to old-vine Riserva.

The producer

Renato Corino built his estate from scratch in 2005, the year he and his brother Giuliano chose to work independently rather than continue under their father Giovanni's name. He planted himself in the Arborina cru of La Morra, the western flank of the Barolo zone, where softer soils give Nebbiolo a rounder texture and more immediate fruit than the iron-rich ground of Serralunga or Castiglione Falletto. Four Barolo designations now run from a broad La Morra village label up through two named crus and a Riserva drawn from vines older than fifty years. His children Stefano and Chiara have joined him in running the estate.

The wines follow what La Morra produces: cherry and raspberry before tar, silky before austere, with firm but dusty tannins that spread across the finish rather than clamp it. The Barolo Arborina is the clearest expression of that character, a single-cru wine from the vineyard at the heart of the estate. The Langhe Nebbiolo offers an earlier-drinking version of the same grape: floral, mint-scented, with fresh strawberry and a sweetly tannic palate that does not ask for time.

Known for

Barolo from La Morra, with four cru designations anchored in the Arborina vineyard.

Notable facts

The story

Two Brothers, One Estate, a Fork in the Road

When Giovanni Corino's sons reached working age, there was a family operation in La Morra to step into. Renato and his brother Giuliano looked at it and chose not to share it. In 2005, each went his own way. Renato took the Arborina vineyard as his address and founded his estate at Frazione Annunziata Pozzo 49A the same year. He was not leaving winemaking; he was choosing to do it under a name he would build himself. Giuliano went off and did the same. The wines Renato now makes from Arborina carry the name he chose rather than the one he was handed, and his children Stefano and Chiara have since come to work alongside him.

From the atlas

Renato Corino

At A Glance

The Producer

Renato Corino built his estate from nothing in 2005, planting himself in the Arborina cru of La Morra the year he and his brother Giuliano chose to work independently rather than continue under their father Giovanni's name. He now makes four Barolo designations, from a broad La Morra village label down to a Riserva drawn from vines older than fifty years, alongside Langhe Nebbiolo, Barbera d'Alba, and Dolcetto d'Alba. His children Stefano and Chiara have joined him in the work.

Arborina sits in the western part of the Barolo zone, a place associated with Nebbiolo grown on softer ground and made in a style that opens earlier and gives up its fruit more readily than wines from the eastern communes. Renato's range is built around that character: Nebbiolo showing cherry and raspberry before tar, silky before austere, with firm tannins that settle into the wine rather than dominate it.

Place

La Morra is the largest commune in the Barolo zone by vineyard surface, occupying the western ridge above the Tanaro valley. The appellation label on a bottle of Barolo from La Morra signals a particular set of expectations: earlier-ripening fruit, softer tannins at release, wines that reward a few years of cellaring without requiring a decade of patience.

The Arborina vineyard is a named cru within La Morra, recognised under the Barolo Menzione Geografica Aggiuntiva system as a distinct geographic addition on the label. Rocche dell'Annunziata, the second cru in Renato's range, lies in the Annunziata subzone, one of La Morra's most historically regarded sites. These cru names on the label identify where the grapes were grown, concentrating the wine's character on a specific slope rather than the broader commune.

Soil And Site

La Morra's soils lean toward the softer, more fertile clays that characterise the western Barolo communes. Vineyards on these soils give Nebbiolo a rounder texture and more immediate fruit expression compared to the compact, iron-rich soils of Serralunga or Castiglione Falletto. The consequence in the glass is a Barolo that feels approachable at five or six years rather than one that demands ten.

Arborina's position within La Morra is well regarded for consistent ripening. Renato's Riserva is drawn from the oldest vines on the estate, those exceeding fifty years of age, which tend to produce lower yields and more concentrated fruit with greater depth on the palate.

Story

Giovanni Corino built a family winemaking operation in La Morra over several decades. When Renato and his brother Giuliano reached the point of deciding how to work going forward, they chose separation over continuation. Each would build his own estate. Renato's choice was Arborina.

He founded his estate in 2005 in the Annunziata fraction of La Morra, at Pozzo 49A, in the heart of the Arborina vineyard. Starting independently meant building a range from scratch: selecting parcels, establishing cru designations, and structuring a portfolio that moved from the broad La Morra village label up through named single-vineyard wines to an old-vine Riserva. Twenty years on, Stefano and Chiara have taken on roles in the operation, making this a producer now in its second generation of independent ownership.

Vineyards And Cellar

Renato works his vineyards with copper and sulfur rather than synthetic treatments, a choice that keeps the vines in a low-intervention regime without requiring formal organic certification. Grass management is integrated into soil care between the rows. At harvest, fruit is culled carefully so only sound, ripe clusters enter the cellar.

For the Barolo range, the cellar uses French oak barriques, renewing roughly a third of the barrique stock each year with medium-toasted wood. Rotating the oak at that rate keeps the influence of new wood modest: the wine absorbs some vanilla and spice from the fresher barrels while the older wood contributes oxygen exchange and softening without overlaying the fruit. The Langhe Nebbiolo is made to drink young, with lighter handling to preserve its floral, fresh character.

Wines

Nebbiolo runs through the entire range in five expressions. Langhe Nebbiolo is the lightest: 100% Nebbiolo, transparent ruby in colour, aromatic and youthful, with flowers and wild mint on the nose and sweetly tannic fresh fruit on the palate. It is made for early drinking.

The Barolo range moves through four designations in order of specificity. Barolo del Comune di La Morra is the village label, drawing from La Morra soils across the commune. Barolo Arborina narrows to the named cru, with the silky, fruit-forward character that Arborina's position in La Morra produces: supple texture, cherry and raspberry, tar and dried underbrush, and firm dusty tannins on the finish. Barolo Rocche dell'Annunziata comes from a second named site in the Annunziata subzone, one of La Morra's historically significant vineyards. Barolo Roncaglie is a third cru designation. The Barolo Riserva sits at the top of the range, produced only from vines older than fifty years and subject to longer minimum ageing under Barolo law: it carries the deepest concentration the estate produces.

Barbera d'Alba and Dolcetto d'Alba round out the range, both made from grapes with deep roots in the Langhe.

In The Glass

The Langhe Nebbiolo opens with a lifted nose: fresh flowers, wild mint, and strawberry. On the palate it is light-bodied and immediate, with juicy acidity and tannins that grip gently without firmness. The colour is transparent ruby. It does not ask for time.

The Barolo Arborina reads as Nebbiolo at its most approachable from this zone: supple and almost silky in texture, with cherry and raspberry showing before the tar and underbrush that Nebbiolo always carries beneath its fruit. The tannins are firm but dusty rather than hard, spreading across the finish rather than clamping it. La Morra's softer ground is audible in that texture. Give it five to eight years from vintage and the fruit and the tannins reach an equilibrium that rewards the wait.

The Riserva, drawn from the oldest vines, will carry more concentration and grip at release, needing more time before the tannins settle.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Barolo Arborina. It is a single-cru wine from the vineyard at the heart of Renato's estate, and it shows what La Morra Nebbiolo does: a silky texture, fruit that leads with cherry and raspberry, and firm dusty tannins that define the finish without closing the wine down. No heaviness, no extraction, no wood that overpowers the fruit. The cru name on the label tells you where it came from; the wine tells you why La Morra has its own character within the Barolo zone. Open it at eight to ten years from vintage, or hold it longer if the dusty tannins still feel present.

Anecdote

When Giovanni Corino's sons reached adulthood, there was a family operation in La Morra to inherit. Renato and his brother Giuliano looked at it and decided they did not want to share it. In 2005, each went his own way. Renato took the Arborina vineyard as his address, and that year he founded his own estate at Frazione Annunziata Pozzo 49A. He was not walking away from winemaking; he was choosing to do it under his own name and on his own terms. The wines he makes from Arborina today carry the name he chose to build rather than the one he was handed, and his children Stefano and Chiara have since joined him in running it.

Final Word

Renato Corino is a La Morra producer of twenty years' standing, working the Arborina cru and three other Barolo designations with Nebbiolo grown on the western soils of the appellation. The wines are built for approachability within the Barolo frame: silky texture, fruit-forward character, firm tannins that soften with time. The Barolo Arborina is the clearest expression of what Renato set out to do in 2005.

Sources

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