Italy · Langhe

Casa Vinicola Marenco

Family estate in Strevi, southeastern Piemonte, making Brachetto d'Acqui and Moscato d'Asti from Bagnario Valley vineyards since 1925. Three sisters run the winery today, with Patrizia Marenco as winemaker.

The producer

Marenco makes a specific argument about southeastern Piemonte: that Strevi, a quiet village between the Tanaro and the Monferrato hills, is one of the best places in the region to grow Brachetto and Moscato. Michele Marenco began there in 1925 with a single vineyard in the Bagnario Valley. His son Giuseppe expanded the operation in the postwar decades, building a new cellar in central Strevi in 1956. The estate now spans four villages, with Strevi and Cassine as the aromatic core and parcels in Fontanile and Castel Boglione, near Nizza Monferrato, providing Barbera fruit.

Three sisters, Michela, Patrizia and Doretta, now manage every stage of production. Patrizia is the winemaker; Filippo Furlani is the agronomist. All wines are made from estate-grown indigenous grapes and bottled at the Strevi cellar. The range centres on Brachetto d'Acqui DOCG and Moscato d'Asti DOCG, both low-alcohol, sweet and lightly sparkling. Pineto is the estate's single-vineyard Brachetto, made without added sugar: fermentation is stopped by filtration at 5% alcohol, so the sweetness is entirely the grape's own.

Known for

Brachetto d'Acqui DOCG; Moscato d'Asti DOCG; Pineto single-vineyard Brachetto

Notable facts

The story

The Cellar by the Station

In 1956, Giuseppe Marenco needed a new winery. The estate had been making wine in Strevi since his father's time, but shipping it out was slow and complicated. Giuseppe chose a plot in the centre of the village, next to the railway station. The logic was direct: barrels and cases could be loaded onto trains for customers across northern Italy without moving wine across town first. He built the cellar there, close enough to the platforms that the sound of trains was part of the working day. All wine is vinified and bottled at Marenco's cellar in Strevi. The railway station is quieter now, but the cellar remains.

From the atlas

Casa Vinicola Marenco

At A Glance

Estate: Casa Vinicola Marenco Village: Strevi, Acqui Terme area, southeastern Piemonte Principal appellations: Brachetto d'Acqui DOCG, Moscato d'Asti DOCG Key grapes: Brachetto, Moscato, Barbera Winemaker: Patrizia Marenco Founded: 1925

The Producer

Marenco makes a specific argument about southeastern Piemonte: that Strevi, a quiet village between the Tanaro and the hills of Monferrato, is one of the best places in the region to grow Brachetto and Moscato. The estate began there in 1925, when Michele Marenco farmed a vineyard in Strevi's Bagnario Valley. A century later, three sisters run the winery from the same valley.

Michela, Patrizia and Doretta Marenco are Giuseppe's daughters. Patrizia is the winemaker. Filippo Furlani manages the vineyards as agronomist, and Giovanni and Andrea Costa work alongside the family in production and management. All wines come from the estate's own parcels and are vinified and bottled at the cellar in Strevi.

The range stays close to Piemonte's aromatic indigenous varieties: Brachetto and Moscato from the Strevi and Cassine vineyards, Barbera from parcels in Fontanile and Castel Boglione near the Nizza Monferrato hills. No grapes are bought in.

Place

Strevi sits in the southeastern corner of Piemonte, inside the broader Acqui Terme zone. It is the geographic centre of Marenco's work and the source of the estate's two DOCG wines. Brachetto d'Acqui DOCG covers the red sparkling wines made from Brachetto grown in this part of the Monferrato hills; Moscato d'Asti DOCG covers the frizzante sweet white made from Moscato grown further northwest, toward Asti and Canelli, with Strevi and Cassine at the southernmost edge of that appellation.

Both appellations share a climate shaped by Mediterranean warmth funnelling up the Tanaro valley and cooled by the Ligurian Apennines to the south. That combination supports long, warm autumns without excessive heat, which suits both Brachetto and Moscato: the grapes reach aromatic ripeness while holding natural acidity, and harvest in early September keeps alcohol low.

Marenco's additional parcels in Fontanile and Castel Boglione, two villages closer to Nizza Monferrato, fall outside the Brachetto and Moscato appellations. Those sites carry Barbera, suited to the clay-rich soils and higher elevations of that part of Monferrato.

Soil And Site

The Pineto vineyard at Strevi is the estate's most documented site. It faces southeast on white soils made of sand and limestone. Sandy soils over limestone drain well and warm quickly in spring, which encourages early and even bud break. The southeast exposure captures morning sun and avoids the hottest afternoon heat, giving Brachetto a gradual ripening arc that preserves its floral and red-fruit character rather than pushing it toward overripe heaviness.

The Bagnario Valley topography channels air movement through the vineyards, which limits disease pressure and allows the estate to manage its parcels with minimal chemical intervention. Permanent sod, green manure, soil rest and minimal fertilisation are among the practices recorded across Marenco's vineyards. Weather stations help the team time treatments and harvest precisely.

Story

Michele Marenco started with one vineyard in Strevi's Bagnario Valley in 1925. For the next three decades the wine was made at the estate but shipped through trade channels. In 1956 his son Giuseppe changed that. He built a new winery in the centre of Strevi, choosing a plot near the railway station so wine could be loaded directly onto trains for customers. It was an infrastructure decision shaped by the postwar boom in Piemonte's wine trade, and it anchored Marenco's production in Strevi for good.

Giuseppe's three daughters, Michela, Patrizia and Doretta, took over management of the estate and brought a more formal approach to both viticulture and cellar work. Patrizia trained as a winemaker and took direct responsibility for vinification. Filippo Furlani joined as a professional agronomist. The Nizza-area parcels in Fontanile and Castel Boglione were added to extend the range beyond the sweet aromatic wines of Strevi into Barbera territory. The estate now holds vineyards across four villages and produces its full range from estate-grown fruit.

Vineyards And Cellar

All Marenco vineyards are farmed under sustainable agriculture principles. Permanent ground cover between rows, green manure, periods of soil rest, and biodegradable treatments are used in vineyard management. Vineyard rows are oriented horizontally across slopes to slow water runoff and reduce erosion. Weather stations placed across the estate allow the team to track conditions and time operations accurately.

In the cellar, Pineto shows the estate's technical approach most clearly. After manual harvest in early September, Brachetto grapes are destemmed and left to macerate on their skins for two to three days. This short maceration extracts colour. Fermentation then takes place in temperature-controlled pressurised tanks. When alcohol reaches 5%, the process is stopped by filtration: the remaining grape sugar becomes the wine's sweetness, and the trapped carbon dioxide becomes its delicate sparkle. No sugar is added at any stage.

Wines

Marenco's range divides into two zones and three grape types.

From Strevi and Cassine, Brachetto d'Acqui DOCG and Moscato d'Asti DOCG are the foundation. Brachetto d'Acqui is a lightly sparkling sweet red wine made from Brachetto. Moscato d'Asti is a frizzante sweet white from Moscato grapes, typically showing peach, apricot and orange blossom with bright, mouth-watering acidity that prevents the sweetness from feeling heavy. Both wines finish at low alcohol, around 5 to 5.5%, because fermentation is arrested before it completes.

Pineto is the estate's single-vineyard Brachetto. It is 100% Brachetto from the Pineto parcel in Strevi, with more character and colour intensity than a non-site-designated Brachetto d'Acqui because the southeast-facing sandy limestone soils concentrate aromatic ripeness and the two-to-three-day maceration gives deeper colour and faint tannin. The sweetness is entirely from natural grape sugar retained at arrest: no dosage, no added sugar.

From Fontanile and Castel Boglione, Marenco produces Barbera under the Barbera d'Asti or Barbera del Monferrato appellations: dry, full-bodied reds with the bright cherry acidity and dark fruit that Barbera delivers from Monferrato's clay-rich soils.

Scrapona is a 6.5-hectare Moscato vineyard with a southwest exposure on marl and limestone, planted with five clones including one carried from the estate's original vines. It represents the more vineyard-specific end of Marenco's Moscato work.

In The Glass

Pineto Brachetto d'Acqui opens with rose petal and raspberry aromas, the floral and fruit character that Brachetto produces from southeast-facing sandy limestone at low alcohol. On the palate, Pineto is aromatic, delicate and harmonious. The wine has a fine bead. At 5% alcohol the wine feels delicate rather than insubstantial: the arrested fermentation preserves grape flavour rather than diluting it.

Moscato d'Asti from the Strevi parcels follows a similar logic: low alcohol, sweet, frizzante, with peach, apricot and floral lift. The acidity is more pronounced than in the Brachetto, giving a cleaner, more citrus-inflected finish. Barbera from Fontanile and Castel Boglione sits at the other end of the range: dry, firm, with dark cherry and plum fruit, marked acidity and the grip expected from Monferrato clay.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Pineto Brachetto d'Acqui DOCG. It is 100% Brachetto from the single Pineto vineyard, southeast-facing, on sandy limestone, harvested by hand in early September. The colour is a deep rose-pink from two to three days of skin maceration. The nose shows rose and raspberry aromas. In the mouth it is sweet, delicate and sparkling. The 5% alcohol is not a compromise: it is the point at which the winemaker stops fermentation by filtration so that grape sugar, rather than added sweetness, becomes the wine's character. This is what Brachetto d'Acqui tastes like when it is made from one parcel, without shortcuts.

Anecdote

In 1956, Giuseppe Marenco needed a new winery. The estate had been making wine in Strevi since his father's time, but shipping it out was slow and complicated. Giuseppe chose a plot in the centre of the village, next to the railway station. The logic was direct: barrels and cases could be loaded onto trains for customers across northern Italy without moving wine across town first. He built the cellar there, close enough to the platforms that the sound of trains was part of the working day. All wine is vinified and bottled at Marenco's cellar in Strevi. The railway station is quieter now, but the cellar remains.

Final Word

Marenco is a Strevi estate that has worked the same valley for a century without straying far from its original grapes. Brachetto and Moscato from the Bagnario Valley, Barbera from the Nizza hills, and a production method for Pineto that lets arrested fermentation do what added sugar cannot: preserve the grape's own flavour at the moment it is most vivid.

Sources

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