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Cascina Cappelle

Six-generation Piedmont family estate on fossil-bearing limestone at a hilltop sanctuary in Mongardino, making Barbera d'Asti, Monferrato Nebbiolo, Monferrato Dolcetto, and Grignolino d'Asti.

The producer

Cascina Cappelle farms a limestone hill at the Sanctuary of Saint Anthony of Padua in Mongardino, a small commune in the Asti province of Piedmont. The estate takes its name from the stone chapels that ring the sanctuary: cascina means farmstead, cappelle means chapels. Six generations of the same family have worked this ground continuously since 1890.

Barbera is the lead grape, and the estate's two Superiore expressions show what barrel choice does to a single variety. The Riserva ages for a minimum 24 months in medium-toasted French oak barriques, which rounds the palate and adds a spiced, oak-derived layer. The non-Riserva Superiore comes from a 50-year-old vineyard block and ages in indigenous Piedmontese botti, larger-format vessels that preserve the grape's natural red fruit and bright acidity more directly. Monferrato Nebbiolo, Dolcetto, and Grignolino d'Asti fill the rest of the range, each labelled under the Monferrato DOC or the Grignolino d'Asti DOC rather than the prestige Langhe appellations to the south-west.

Known for

Barbera d'Asti Superiore in two expressions: French oak barrique Riserva and traditional Piedmontese botti from a 50-year-old vineyard.

Notable facts

The story

Farm of the Chapels

The name on every Cascina Cappelle bottle was already there before the wine existed. The Sanctuary of Saint Anthony of Padua on the Mongardino hillside began as a single hilltop chapel in the early eighteenth century. In 1730, a Way of the Cross was laid out around the original chapel, with 13 stations marked by stone chapels along the route. Four more chapels followed in 1750, placed along the access road up the hill. By the time the estate was farming wine grapes in 1890, the landscape around the cellar had been accumulating stone chapels for a century and a half. Cascina Cappelle, Farm of the Chapels, was simply the address. That name, explained by a pilgrim route rather than a family surname or a founding decision, has appeared on the label ever since.

Farm of the Chapels

The name on every Cascina Cappelle bottle was already there before the wine existed. The Sanctuary of Saint Anthony of Padua on the Mongardino hillside began as a single hilltop chapel in the early eighteenth century. In 1730, a Way of the Cross was laid out around the original chapel, with 13 stations marked by stone chapels along the route. Four more chapels followed in 1750, placed along the access road up the hill. By the time the estate was farming wine grapes in 1890, the landscape around the cellar had been accumulating stone chapels for a century and a half. Cascina Cappelle, Farm of the Chapels, was simply the address. That name, explained by a pilgrim route rather than a family surname or a founding decision, has appeared on the label ever since.

From the atlas

Cascina Cappelle

At A Glance

The Producer

Cascina Cappelle makes wine on a limestone hill at the edge of Mongardino, a small commune in the Asti province of Piedmont. The estate sits directly at the Sanctuary of Saint Anthony of Padua, a working pilgrimage site whose stone chapels give the farm its name: cascina means farmstead, cappelle means chapels. Six generations of the same family have worked this ground continuously since 1890.

The range is a map of the appellations surrounding Asti: Barbera d'Asti in two Superiore expressions, Monferrato Nebbiolo, Monferrato Dolcetto, and Grignolino d'Asti. Barbera is the lead grape, and the two Superiore wines are where the estate's clearest cellar choices show.

Place

Mongardino sits in the Monferrato hills of southern Piedmont, south-east of the city of Asti. The surrounding appellations are mid-tier by Piedmont standards: Barbera d'Asti DOCG covers the grape-forward reds that have long anchored everyday Piedmontese tables, while Monferrato DOC is a broader zone that allows Nebbiolo and Dolcetto to carry the regional label without the prestige weight of Barolo or Barbaresco to the south-west.

The Monferrato Nebbiolo DOC is a different proposition: grown on the same fossil-bearing limestone soils as the estate's Barbera, but outside the communes that define the southern Langhe hierarchy. The label reads Monferrato, not Barolo, and the style reflects that: rounder and more accessible, without the decade-long ageing demand of the prestige appellations.

The Barbera d'Asti DOCG carries more regulatory weight than the Monferrato labels. Superiore and Riserva designations within that DOCG require extended ageing, and Barbera from Asti province has the soil and climate to carry oak without losing the grape's natural acidity.

Soil And Site

The estate identifies its soils as limestone-rich and fossil-bearing, a profile common to the Monferrato hills and one that supports the bright acidity Barbera needs to remain lively through long barrel maturation. Limestone retains heat moderately, encourages deep root development in older vines, and tends to preserve freshness in red wines that spend extended time in wood. The 50-year-old Barbera vineyard used for the non-Riserva Superiore sits on this same ground.

Story

The family at Cascina Cappelle has farmed the Mongardino hillside for six generations without a recorded break. That continuity from 1890 to the present spans phylloxera recovery, two world wars, the transformation of Piedmontese wine from bulk commodity to appellation-structured DOC and DOCG production, and the broader shift toward estate bottling that remade Italian wine culture across the second half of the twentieth century.

The estate combines hand-picking and time-selective vinification with what it describes as modern vinification principles. The two-barrel approach for Barbera d'Asti Superiore tells something about the estate's position between old and new: one wine aged in indigenous Piedmontese botti, the other in French oak barriques, both held for a minimum of 24 months. Neither the traditional nor the international barrel alone defines the cellar. The estate holds both methods simultaneously, applying each to a distinct wine.

Vineyards And Cellar

Grapes are hand-picked and moved to the cellar at what the estate judges to be optimal ripeness, a practice that prioritises selection over calendar scheduling. Rootstock selection is adapted to the limestone soils.

In the cellar, the two Barbera Superiore wines diverge at the barrel. The Riserva goes into medium-toasted French oak barriques for at least 24 months. The barriques add palate softness and extend the wine's life. The non-Riserva Superiore uses indigenous Piedmontese barrels, typically larger-format botti that give slower, more neutral oak contact over the same minimum 24-month period. Larger oak means less wood flavour transferred per litre, so the fruit and grape character of the Barbera remains more exposed.

The two Barbera Superiore wines use different barrel types. The barrique wine picks up more oak-derived softness and spice; the botti wine keeps closer to the grape's natural acidity and cherry-forward character.

Wines

The range covers four appellations and five wines, anchored by Barbera.

Barbera d'Asti Superiore Riserva is the flagship: Barbera from limestone parcels, aged for a minimum 24 months in medium-toasted French oak barriques. The barrique contact rounds the palate and adds a spiced, oak-derived layer over Barbera's firm cherry fruit. Extended ageing under Superiore Riserva rules means this bottle arrives with more development than the base release.

Barbera d'Asti Superiore (non-Riserva) comes from a 50-year-old vineyard block and is aged in indigenous Piedmontese botti for at least 24 months. Older vines tend to produce lower yields and more concentrated fruit; the larger botti preserve Barbera's natural acidity and red-fruit character more directly than the barrique used for the Riserva.

Monferrato Nebbiolo DOC Superiore is Nebbiolo grown in the Monferrato zone, outside the Barolo and Barbaresco hierarchy. The estate describes red and black fruit aromas, a persistent aromatic profile, and warm, generous palate weight with soft, velvety tannins. The Superiore designation within Monferrato DOC requires additional ageing beyond the base release.

Monferrato Dolcetto DOC is the estate's lightest red: Dolcetto from the Monferrato zone, characterised as soft with limited acidity, consistent with the grape's typical low-acid, cherry-driven profile.

Grignolino d'Asti DOC is the estate's local rarity: Grignolino is a pale, tannic Piedmontese variety producing lightly coloured reds with a firm, sometimes astringent edge. No further detail is available from verified sources.

In The Glass

The Barbera d'Asti Superiore Riserva opens with the dark cherry and plum character typical of well-grown Barbera, followed by a spiced, slightly toasty note from the medium-toasted French oak. In the mouth, the barrique-derived softness rounds what would otherwise be a firm acid line: Barbera naturally carries high acidity, and the 24-plus months in wood integrate that freshness into a fuller, rounder palate. The finish is warm, with fruit and oak in balance, and the wine carries ageing potential from the extended barrel time.

The non-Riserva Superiore from the 50-year vineyard is more directly fruity: the larger Piedmontese botti expose less oak, so the wine's red cherry and light earthy notes come through with greater clarity. The old-vine concentration lifts the mid-palate.

The Monferrato Nebbiolo Superiore sits between the two Barbera wines in body: warm and generous, with a soft tannin grip rather than the firm, drying tannin of Barolo-style Nebbiolo. Red and black fruit dominate the nose, with a persistent aromatic length the estate notes on its wine page.

The Dolcetto is the softest and most approachable: low acidity, fresh cherry, and a round exit. The Grignolino, by contrast, is pale and tannic, a local style with a drier, more austere character.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Barbera d'Asti Superiore from the 50-year-old vineyard, aged in Piedmontese botti. It is the most direct expression of what the estate grows and where: old-vine Barbera on limestone, cellared in traditional large-format oak for over two years, with the grape's natural red fruit and acidity intact. The botti leave the wine more transparent to its vineyard than the barrique does, which makes it a clearer first read of the estate's ground. It is also the bottle that puts Barbera d'Asti Superiore in its proper context: not a simple everyday red, but a wine aged for at least 24 months, from a family that has been growing Barbera on this hill for more than a century.

Anecdote

The name on every Cascina Cappelle bottle has nothing to do with a founding family decision or a marketing choice. It was already there. The Sanctuary of Saint Anthony of Padua on the Mongardino hillside began as a single hilltop chapel in the early eighteenth century. In 1730, a Way of the Cross was laid out around the original chapel, with 13 stations marked by stone chapels along the route. Four more chapels followed in 1750, placed along the access road up the hill. By the time the estate was farming wine grapes in 1890, the landscape around the cellar had been accumulating stone chapels for a century and a half. Cascina Cappelle, Farm of the Chapels, was simply the address. That name, explained by a pilgrim route rather than a family surname, has appeared on the label ever since.

Final Word

Cascina Cappelle is a Piedmont estate whose range stays close to the appellations immediately around Asti: Barbera d'Asti leads, with Nebbiolo, Dolcetto, and Grignolino filling the supporting slots. The two Superiore Barbera wines are the most useful study in how barrel choice shapes a single grape across two different cellar traditions. For a buyer working through Piedmont's middle tier, this estate is a grounded, four-grape introduction to the Monferrato hill country.

Sources

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