From the atlas
Cascina Massara
At A Glance
Producer: Cascina Massara (Burlotto family) Village: Verduno Region: Barolo DOCG, Piemonte Grapes: Nebbiolo, Pelaverga Piccolo, Barbera, Dolcetto, Favorita Range: Langhe Favorita, Dolcetto d'Alba, Barbera d'Alba, Verduno Pelaverga, Langhe Nebbiolo, Barolo, Barolo Massara, Barolo Monvigliero Hectares: 10 Cellar: Two-floor building, 2007; Barolo aged underground in naturally conditioned air
The Producer
Cascina Massara is a family estate in Verduno, the small commune at the northwestern edge of the Barolo zone in Piemonte. The Burlotto family has farmed these hills for at least three generations; the winery label is young, but the vines and the knowledge behind them are not. Gian Carlo Burlotto purchased the cellar and several vineyard parcels in 2013, formally separating the wine operation from the broader family farm and establishing Cascina Massara as a standalone estate. His son Gianluca works alongside him; his daughter Claudia joined in 2022.
Gian Carlo spent the 1970s specializing in cellar work while his brothers managed the vineyards. That division gave him a practical understanding of how Verduno's Nebbiolo behaves between fermentation and bottling, and it is reflected in an approach to winemaking that favors long wood ageing in large vats over technological intervention.
The estate has ten hectares, all on Verduno's clay-limestone hills. Nebbiolo takes up most of the planted area and goes into four wines: a blended Barolo assembled from three hill sites, two single-vineyard Barolos from the Massara and Monvigliero crus, and a Langhe Nebbiolo. Pelaverga Piccolo, a red grape grown almost entirely within Verduno, rounds out the estate's range as a distinctly local operation.
Place
Verduno sits at the northwestern end of the Barolo production zone, between La Morra to the south and the Roero hills across the Tanaro river to the north. It is one of the smaller Barolo communes, producing a modest share of total appellation output. Wines labeled Barolo del Comune di Verduno carry the commune name on the label, allowing the producer to signal the geographic source directly.
The geology here is clay-limestone, cooler and lighter than the compact Helvetian clay of Castiglione Falletto or the dense Tortonian marl of Serralunga d'Alba to the southeast. That geological difference is legible in the glass: Verduno Barolo tends toward finer tannin and a lighter body than wines from the heavier southern communes. Monvigliero, Verduno's most cited vineyard, sits on a southeast-facing slope and is consistently associated with this lighter, fine-grained character.
The label Verduno Pelaverga DOC applies only to wines made from Pelaverga Piccolo within the commune. Outside Verduno, this grape is almost impossible to find commercially, which makes any Verduno estate producing it a clear signal of local commitment.
Soil And Site
All ten hectares lie on the hills immediately around the village of Verduno. The soils are clay-limestone throughout, sharing the pale Tortonian-Helvetian geology that runs through the northwestern Barolo communes. Within that broad framework, the individual hill sites contribute different structural traits to the wines made from them.
The Massara cru is the estate's home parcel and the oldest planted ground on the property. Vines here date to 1969. The hill contributes softer tannins to the blended Barolo than either Neirane or Castagni. Castagni adds robustness; Neirane adds grip and firmness. The Monvigliero parcel is leased, not owned, and sits in the centre of one of Verduno's most historically cited vineyards.
Several vineyard operations are performed by hand, from pruning through harvest, with the aim of selecting only sound fruit before the grapes reach the cellar.
Story
The Burlotto family's connection to Verduno deepened through the early decades of the twentieth century, as successive generations committed more of their farming effort to wine grapes rather than mixed agriculture. By the 1970s, the work had split along practical lines: Gian Carlo concentrated on the cellar, learning fermentation and ageing from the inside, while his brothers maintained the vineyards.
In 2007, before the estate formally existed as a separate entity, the family built a new two-floor cellar in Verduno. The building included a pneumatic press, large Garbellotto wooden vats, and a dedicated underground ageing area for Barolo kept in naturally conditioned air. The investment was made while Gian Carlo was still part of the collective family operation.
The break came in 2013. Gian Carlo bought the cellar and several vineyard parcels outright, and Cascina Massara launched as an independent winery. The first Barolo Massara was released from that founding vintage: grapes from vines planted in 1969, entering a cellar that had been built six years earlier for a winery that did not yet have its own name. Two years later, the inaugural Barolo Monvigliero followed from the 2015 vintage, a small leased parcel in the centre of the vineyard.
Vineyards And Cellar
Fermentation for Barolo takes place in temperature-controlled open stainless-steel vats. The maceration runs approximately 15 to 20 days with pumping over and without submerged cap or punching down, keeping the extraction relatively gentle for a grape as tannic as Nebbiolo. Malolactic fermentation completes in stainless steel. The wine then moves into large wooden vats, where it ages for 36 months before bottling. No small barriques are used; the large-format botti allow slow oxygen exchange without adding oak flavour or tannin.
The underground ageing room keeps the Barolo in naturally conditioned air, without mechanical temperature or humidity control. The two-floor cellar above separates winemaking, ageing, bottling, and storage into dedicated areas.
Vineyard work is manual from pruning onward. The estate describes its cellar approach as following natural processes only, meaning no corrective additions or technological shortcuts during fermentation or ageing.
Wines
The range divides clearly into two tiers: everyday Langhe wines and three Barolos that step up in weight and ageing requirement.
Verduno Pelaverga is the estate's most immediately distinctive bottle. Pelaverga Piccolo is a thin-skinned red grape with naturally low tannin, bright acidity, vivid cherry and strawberry fruit, and a characteristic white-pepper note on the finish. It drinks lighter than any of the Nebbiolo wines and is best enjoyed young.
Langhe Favorita is a dry white from the Favorita grape, pale with floral lift and citrus freshness. Dolcetto d'Alba and Barbera d'Alba fill the everyday red slots: the Dolcetto with soft tannin and dark fruit, the Barbera with higher natural acidity, fuller fruit, and less tannin than Nebbiolo.
Langhe Nebbiolo offers an entry into the estate's Nebbiolo work with 12 months of wood ageing. It shows the grape's typical dried-flower bouquet, firm but not punishing tannin, and enough character to benefit from a year or two in bottle.
Barolo del Comune di Verduno is a blended DOCG Barolo assembled from Nebbiolo grown on three hill sites within the commune. Massara contributes softer tannins, Castagni adds robustness, and Neirane adds grip. A ruby-garnet wine with red fruit, dried flowers, and a firm palate built from three distinct hill sites.
Barolo Massara is a single-vineyard DOCG Barolo from vines planted in 1969. It shares the same 36-month large-vat regime as the blended Barolo but comes from the estate's oldest and most carefully managed parcel.
Barolo Monvigliero is a single-vineyard DOCG Barolo from a leased parcel in the centre of Verduno's most cited vineyard. It spends 36 months in large wooden vats and is made with further bottle development in mind.
In The Glass
The Pelaverga opens with a bright burst of cherry and raspberry, faintly spiced with white pepper. It is light in body, with refreshing acidity and almost no tannin: a wine that invites a second glass rather than careful contemplation.
The Langhe Nebbiolo carries the classic Nebbiolo aromatic register: dried roses, tar, a hint of dried cherry. The tannins are firm, the acidity is high, and 12 months in wood has smoothed the edges without flattening the fruit. It gives a preview of the Barolo character at a lower price and earlier drinking window.
The blended Barolo runs ruby-garnet in the glass. On the nose, red fruit and dried flowers. The palate is firm, with tannin drawn from three hill sites pulling in slightly different directions: some grip, some robustness, some softness. High acidity keeps the finish alive.
Barolo Massara, from vines over fifty years old, is denser and more concentrated than the commune blend, with deeper fruit and longer tannin on the finish. Barolo Monvigliero follows a similar trajectory but carries the fine-grained, lighter-framed character Verduno soils are known for: more perfume, less weight, tannins that feel closer to silk than grip.
A Bottle To Understand It
Start with the Barolo del Comune di Verduno. It is a DOCG Barolo built from Nebbiolo grown across three hill sites within the commune, aged 36 months in large wooden vats, and designed to show what Verduno's clay-limestone ground does to the grape before any single-vineyard character enters the picture. The wine opens with dried roses and red fruit, settles into a firm mid-palate, and finishes with the clean, high acidity that marks Verduno Nebbiolo. It is approachable earlier than the cru bottlings and costs less, but it carries the full Barolo character: tannin, acidity, and the development arc that comes with 36 months in botti grandi. It is the commune Barolo to open first: one wine, one pour, three hill sites, 36 months in wood.
Anecdote
In 2013, when Gian Carlo Burlotto and his son Gianluca signed the papers to separate Cascina Massara from the broader family farm, buying the cellar and several vineyard parcels outright, they immediately began planning their first single-vineyard Barolo. The parcel they chose was Massara, planted in 1969, the year Gian Carlo was sixteen. He had spent the 1970s learning cellar work in the same building they had just purchased, pressing and ageing Nebbiolo grown on those same vines while they were technically his brothers' responsibility to farm. By the time he put his name on the winery, the Massara vines were forty-four years old. The first bottle released under the Cascina Massara label carried a vintage year that was also the founding year, from a parcel four decades older than the label on the glass.
Final Word
Cascina Massara is a Verduno estate with three generations of farming behind a label that has existed since 2013. The range is honest about its hierarchy: everyday whites and reds, a Langhe Nebbiolo with 12 months in wood, a commune-level Barolo that shows the place, and two cru Barolos that narrow the address. The Verduno Pelaverga, a grape barely grown outside this single commune, is the estate's most immediately enjoyable bottle. The Barolos need time, but they are made with the patience of people who already waited forty years to put their name on the label.
Sources
- https://www.cantinamassara.it/en/giancarlo-burlotto.php
- https://www.cantinamassara.it/en/cantina-giancarlo-burlotto.php
- https://www.cantinamassara.it/en/vigneti-verduno.php
- https://www.cascinamassara.it/?lang=en
- https://dbgitalia.com/producer/cascina-massara-burlotto/
- https://www.cantinamassara.it/en/barolo-docg-fratelli-burlotto.php
- https://www.cantinamassara.it/en/barolo-docg-monvigliero-fratelli-burlotto.php
- https://www.cantinamassara.it/en/langhe-doc-nebbiolo-fratelli-burlotto.php
- https://www.cantinamassara.it/en/verduno-pelaverga-doc-fratelli-burlotto.php
- https://www.bbr.com/producer-697-cascina-massara-burlotto