Italy · Langhe

Cascina Disa - Elio Sandri

Elio Sandri farms 7.5 hectares on the east-facing slope of Perno Hill in Monforte d'Alba without chemicals, ferments in cement with indigenous yeasts, and ages every wine from Dolcetto through Barolo Riserva in old Slavonian-oak botti.

The producer

Cascina Disa sits on the east-facing flank of Perno Hill in Monforte d'Alba, a single address in the Disa hamlet of the Perno cru, where roughly 7.5 contiguous hectares of Nebbiolo, Barbera, and Dolcetto grow at 300 to 350 metres. Elio Sandri makes fewer than 12,000 bottles a year, ferments everything in cement with indigenous yeasts, and ages from the simplest Dolcetto through the Riserva in the same old Slavonian-oak casks, leaving every wine unracked, unfined, and unfiltered.

The east-facing slope gives Cascina Disa a cooler microclimate than most of the Barolo zone, pushing harvest later and producing Nebbiolo with firm tannin and considerable depth. Sandri cuts the grass twice a year and does nothing else to the vineyard floor. The Barbera d'Alba Superiore is the right first bottle: same address, same cellar approach as the Barolo, but accessible at three to five years rather than ten.

Known for

Barolo from the Perno cru, long-aged in old Slavonian-oak botti, unracked, unfined, and unfiltered.

Notable facts

The story

The Documentary and the Wait

Elio Sandri was watching Mondovino, the 2005 documentary about wine, power, and the decisions that determine who gets to import small estates into large markets. Somewhere in the film he saw Neal Rosenthal, the New York importer known for working with growers who refused to change what they made in order to make it sellable. Sandri decided Rosenthal was the right person. He tracked him down, and they met at Cascina Disa in 2011. An existing importer agreement stood between them and any deal. Sandri waited. He kept cutting his grass twice a year, kept his botti, kept bottling without filtering, kept wrapping each Barolo by hand. The partnership with Rosenthal eventually came together, years after that first visit, and Cascina Disa reached a wider market without adjusting the scale or the pace of anything.

From the atlas

Cascina Disa - Elio Sandri

At A Glance

Producer: Cascina Disa - Elio Sandri Region: Piemonte, Italy Appellation: Barolo DOCG, Barbera d'Alba DOC, Dolcetto d'Alba DOC Village / Cru: Perno, Monforte d'Alba Grapes: Nebbiolo, Barbera, Dolcetto Annual Production: Roughly 10,000 to 12,000 bottles Farming: Organic in practice Cellar: Cement fermentation, old Slavonian-oak botti, unracked, unfined, unfiltered

The Producer

Cascina Disa sits on the east-facing flank of Perno Hill in Monforte d'Alba, one of the Barolo zone's most respected crus, where roughly 7.5 contiguous hectares of Nebbiolo, Barbera, and Dolcetto fill a single address in the Disa hamlet. Elio Sandri makes fewer than 12,000 bottles a year, ferments everything in cement with indigenous yeasts, and ages from the simplest Dolcetto through the Riserva in the same old Slavonian-oak casks. Nothing leaves the cellar racked, fined, or filtered.

The scale and the approach are a choice. Elio farms without chemical inputs and cuts the grass twice a year; the vines are left to manage their own equilibrium. The wines carry the particular character of a cooler, east-facing slope where Nebbiolo ripens late, and the cellar does nothing to blur that.

Place

Perno is a recognised cru within the Monforte d'Alba commune of Barolo, in the Langhe hills of southern Piemonte. The hill faces east rather than south, which gives Cascina Disa a cooler microclimate than most Barolo addresses and pushes harvest later into autumn. The Nebbiolo parcels sit at 300 to 350 metres above sea level on a steep slope where cool air slows ripening and the grapes hold firm acidity into October.

That later harvest is written into the wine. Perno Nebbiolo carries tighter tannin at picking than grapes from warmer, south-facing slopes in communes like La Morra, and the Barolos from this address are built for long cellaring rather than early drinking. The label says Monforte d'Alba; the east slope explains why the wine needs time.

Soil And Site

The Disa hamlet of Perno is a steep east-facing site at 300 to 350 metres. Nebbiolo occupies the best-exposed parcels on the south- and east-facing ground, where afternoon sun reaches the vines long enough to ripen Langhe's most demanding grape. Dolcetto and Barbera fill the cooler north- and west-facing plots, which would not give Nebbiolo the heat accumulation it needs. The 7.5 hectares are contiguous, and the entire holding works as a single address.

The site is a steep, east-facing slope at 300 to 350 metres, with a microclimate cooler than most of the Barolo zone and later harvests. Nebbiolo is planted mainly on south- and east-facing slopes, while smaller Dolcetto and Barbera plantings face north and west.

Story

The Sandri family worked these slopes in Perno from the late nineteenth century. Giovanni Sandri, born locally, acquired Cascina Disa in 1965, the year his son Elio was born. The property was the family's home and their livelihood on the same hill.

Elio took charge when his father fell ill, vinifying his first harvest in 1981 at sixteen. From the 2000 vintage onward, he refined the cellar toward indigenous yeasts and minimal intervention. He moved toward indigenous yeasts after experiments with cultivated ones showed him what he did not want. He kept the old Slavonian-oak botti rather than replacing them with barriques. He stopped racking. The wines grew quieter and more severe, more tied to the east slope and less shaped by intervention.

Production stayed small. It has never exceeded roughly 12,000 bottles a year. Every Barolo bottle leaves the estate individually wrapped by hand.

Vineyards And Cellar

Elio cuts the grass twice a year and does nothing else to the vineyard floor. The vines are farmed organically in practice, relying on their own defenses rather than chemical treatments. Old vines run through the Barbera parcels.

In the cellar, fermentation happens in cement vats with indigenous yeasts. From there, the wines move into old Slavonian-oak botti, large casks that give no new oak character to the wine. The varietal wines, Dolcetto and Barbera, spend one year in wood before bottling. Barolo spends between 18 and 72 months depending on the vintage and its character, a range that reflects Sandri's patience with difficult years. Nothing is racked between vessels. Fining and filtration are not used. Sulphur is added once, at the moment of bottling.

The botti are the cellar's defining instrument. At the scale Sandri works, one or two large casks can hold an entire vintage of a single wine. The wine rests undisturbed, and any sediment settles without mechanical intervention.

Wines

The range follows the vineyard logic: Dolcetto and Barbera from the cooler parcels, Barolo and Barolo Riserva from Nebbiolo on the primary slopes.

Dolcetto d'Alba is made from Dolcetto grown on the north- and west-facing ground, aged one year in old botti. It is the lightest wine in the range, lower in tannin than the Nebbiolo-based bottles, with the soft, dry fruit character that Dolcetto produces at altitude in the Langhe.

Barbera d'Alba Superiore is fermented in cement with indigenous yeasts and aged one year in old Slavonian-oak botti. The wine is 100% Barbera from the estate's parcels.

Barolo is Nebbiolo from the Perno cru, aged in old botti for 18 to 72 months and bottled without racking, fining, or filtration. The wine needs time. Late harvest, cool slope, long ageing in neutral oak, and no filtration produce a Barolo with firm tannin and considerable depth.

Barolo Riserva extends the ageing further, same low-intervention approach, a longer time in wood before release.

In The Glass

The Barbera d'Alba Superiore is a useful way into what Sandri makes. The 2021 shows blackberry fruit, delicate rose petal, and a hint of baking spice. It carries some of the weight and depth associated with Sandri's Nebbiolo-based wines. It is drinkable now or over the next 10 years.

The Barolos are a different proposition. From the glass they offer dried rose, tar, and the iron-and-earth complexity of old Nebbiolo on an east-facing Langhe hill. The tannin is present and unsmoothed by filtration, granular rather than polished. At release they are closed and austere; with five or more years in bottle, the mid-palate fills and the finish lengthens. The Riserva carries all of this further.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Barbera d'Alba Superiore. It is 100% Barbera from old vines at Perno, fermented in cement with indigenous yeasts, aged one year in old Slavonian-oak botti, and bottled without fining or filtration. The same address, the same cellar approach, the same hands as the Barolo, but accessible at three to five years rather than ten.

What you find in the glass: depth of colour, dense dark fruit, a firm but buoyant acidity from the Barbera grape, and no new-oak character at all. The wine is serious without requiring a decade of patience. It establishes Sandri's method clearly: cement, old oak, no intervention, one cru. Buy it first. The Barolo will still be there when you are ready.

Anecdote

Elio Sandri was watching Mondovino, the 2005 documentary about wine, power, and the decisions that determine who gets to import small estates into large markets. Somewhere in the film he saw Neal Rosenthal, the New York importer known for working with growers who refused to change what they made in order to make it sellable. Sandri decided Rosenthal was the right person. He tracked him down, and they met at Cascina Disa in 2011. An existing importer agreement stood between them and any deal. Sandri waited. He kept cutting his grass twice a year, kept his botti, kept bottling without filtering, kept wrapping each Barolo by hand. The partnership with Rosenthal eventually came together, years after that first visit, and Cascina Disa reached a wider market without adjusting the scale or the pace of anything.

Final Word

Cascina Disa is one address, one family, and one set of decisions made consistently over four decades: no chemicals, no racking, no filtration, no new oak. The east-facing slope at Perno gives Sandri Nebbiolo that ripens late and carries firm tannin; the cellar does nothing to change that. The Barbera is the entry point. The Barolo is the destination.

Sources

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