Italy · Oltrepò Pavese

Cordero San Giorgio

Young Oltrepò Pavese estate founded in 2019 by three siblings from a Piedmont wine family; half the vineyard is Pinot Nero, farmed organically, vinified parcel by parcel.

The producer

Francesco, Lorenzo and Caterina Cordero bought Tenuta San Giorgio in 2019 with a specific purpose: Pinot Nero. Their father Mario spent more than thirty years running a prominent Langhe winery, and their maternal grandparents were Luciana Vietti and Alfredo Currado, the couple who shaped Vietti through its most important decades. That inheritance gave the siblings deep wine knowledge. It did not give them a vineyard. The estate they found at Santa Giuletta, in the Oltrepò Pavese hills south of Pavia, came with a 16th-century tower, an underground cellar in continuous use for centuries, and twenty hectares of old vines averaging 35 years, Pinot Nero covering roughly half the area.

Oltrepò Pavese is Italy's largest Pinot Nero zone outside Trentino-Alto Adige and far less known internationally than it deserves. The Santa Giuletta hill sits at 230 metres, giving the vines a real day-to-night temperature swing that slows ripening and preserves acidity. The siblings trained in France, the United States and New Zealand before returning to farm organically from the first month of ownership. Lorenzo is winemaker. Each parcel is vinified separately. In their third harvest, Tiamat 2020 received Tre Bicchieri from Gambero Rosso, the highest rating in Italy's most widely read annual wine guide.

Known for

Pinot Nero (Oltrepò Pavese)

Notable facts

The story

Tre Bicchieri in Year Three

In early 2023, Gambero Rosso's tasting panel was working through Italian releases for the annual Vini d'Italia guide. Cordero San Giorgio had existed for fewer than four years. The siblings had not yet completed formal organic certification, the underground cellar still had more history than recent track record, and the name carried recognition in Piedmont wine circles mainly because of the family's Langhe and Vietti connections. Tiamat 2020 went through the blind panel and came back with Tre Bicchieri, the guide's highest mark, awarded to fewer than four hundred wines across all of Italy. Francesco, Lorenzo and Caterina had bought the estate, begun organic farming, trained their first harvest team, built a cellar practice from scratch, and arrived at the country's top wine rating inside three growing seasons.

From the atlas

Cordero San Giorgio

At A Glance

The Producer

Three siblings bought an old Lombard estate in 2019 and planted themselves in a grape their family had never commercially farmed. Francesco, Lorenzo and Caterina Cordero grew up inside one of the Langhe's most connected wine families: their father Mario spent more than thirty years running a prominent Barolo-country winery, and their maternal grandparents were Luciana Vietti and Alfredo Currado, the couple who built Vietti into a Barolo reference. That inheritance gave them wine knowledge, cellar instinct and a family name that meant something in Piedmont. It did not give them a vineyard.

The estate they chose, Tenuta San Giorgio in the Oltrepò Pavese hills south of Pavia, is old enough to have a 16th-century crenelated tower and an underground cellar that has been in continuous use across centuries. The siblings were drawn by the vines rather than the architecture: twenty hectares of old plantings averaging 35 years of age, and Pinot Nero covering roughly half the area. Oltrepò Pavese is Italy's largest Pinot Nero growing zone outside Trentino-Alto Adige, and it remains less known internationally than it deserves. Lorenzo is winemaker. Annual production runs to about 70,000 bottles.

Place

Oltrepò Pavese sits in the southernmost corner of Lombardy, in the Apennine foothills south of the Po river. The name means simply "beyond the Po on the Pavia side": a rolling landscape of vineyards, woodland and clay-rich slopes that belongs geographically to the same hill system as northern Emilia. Santa Giuletta, where the estate sits, is at 230 metres, high enough to give the vines a meaningful day-to-night temperature swing through the growing season. That shift slows ripening and preserves acidity in the fruit.

Pinot Nero has been grown here for well over a century. The variety arrived in the 19th century, partly through the influence of French and Swiss winemaking. In the DOC framework, Oltrepò Pavese Pinot Nero covers still red wines; sparkling Pinot Nero from the zone is bottled as Oltrepò Pavese Metodo Classico. Cordero San Giorgio works exclusively with still wines. Grapes from lower-classification parcels or vinified in a lighter style are bottled under the broader Pavia IGT designation, which gives the estate more flexibility in blend construction and cellar choice.

Soil And Site

The Santa Giuletta hill is primarily clay-rich with some calcareous material. Clay retains water through dry summers, which supports vine health in a zone where summer drought can be a pressure. The calcareous element contributes to the mineral quality in the whites and adds grip and definition to the tannin in the reds. The estate sits in a single block: all 22 hectares under one ownership at one altitude, which simplifies management and gives the siblings direct control over every parcel from harvest to cellar.

The estate has preserved a centuries-old oak and cherry forest on part of its land. The woodland supports insect biodiversity and moderates the local microclimate around the vineyard edges.

Story

Mario Cordero built his career in the Langhe through the 1980s and 1990s, a period when Barolo was redefining itself and the most contested decisions in Italian wine were being fought out in Piedmont cellars. His children grew up watching that world from close range. Francesco, Lorenzo and Caterina each went further afield: they trained in wineries in France, the United States and New Zealand, working different approaches to viticulture and cellar practice before any of them had a home estate to apply those ideas to.

The 2019 purchase was a deliberate departure. Oltrepò Pavese was not the obvious choice for a family with Barolo roots. The region produces large quantities of wine, much of it sold in bulk or as base wine for northern Italian sparkling production, and it has historically struggled to build the kind of individual-producer recognition that the Langhe enjoys. The siblings chose it because the old vines were already there, Pinot Nero dominated the planting, and the land had not been overcropped or chemically exhausted. Organic-principle farming began in July 2019, the month the acquisition completed. Formal conversion started in July 2021. Within three harvests, their top wine had earned Gambero Rosso's highest recognition.

Vineyards And Cellar

Each parcel is vinified separately from harvest through ageing. Parcels differ in vine age, row orientation and the degree of clay or calcareous material underfoot, so keeping them apart allows the cellar to track what each contributes before the decision to blend or bottle individually is made. Massal selection from the existing old vines supplies propagation material, which keeps the genetic diversity of those 35-year-old plantings intact rather than replacing them with a single approved clone.

Fertilisation is done with organic cow manure only. No synthetic treatments are used in the vineyard. The preserved forest on the estate functions as a biodiversity corridor alongside the vines.

In the cellar, the regime changes by wine. Rivone, the estate Chardonnay, spends roughly twelve months on its lees in a combination of clay amphorae and small oak barriques with frequent bâtonnage, then approximately six more months in bottle before release. The amphora portion adds texture without the vanilla and toast that come with heavy oak use; the bâtonnage integrates the lees and builds body. Partù, the entry Pinot Nero, is barrel-aged and then bottled. Tiamat, the top Pinot Nero, is vinified parcel by parcel and assembled after individual ageing.

Wines

Rivone is a single-variety Chardonnay bottled as Oltrepò Pavese DOC. The wine takes its name from a steep vineyard parcel that supplies the fruit: working that slope by hand at harvest is demanding, and the name anchors the bottle to the labour the site requires. After twelve months on lees in amphorae and barriques with regular stirring, and a further six months in bottle, the wine is textured and aromatic, with the weight that extended lees contact builds and an acid line that the altitude and calcareous soil contribute. It is capable of development in bottle.

Partù is the estate Pinot Nero at the Pavia IGT level, drawn from multiple parcels with vines of different ages and exposures rather than a single site. The multi-parcel approach blends older-vine depth with the freshness that younger parcels and higher-altitude rows can supply. Wine Enthusiast reviewed the 2020 vintage and found ripe red fruit, earthy character and firm tannin; the producer describes smooth tannins and a long finish. Tannin character varies with vintage, so both readings are honest depending on the year.

Tiamat is the estate's top Pinot Nero, vinified parcel by parcel and assembled after individual ageing. This is where Cordero San Giorgio pushes hardest: the parcel-by-parcel work and extended ageing allow a more complex layering than the Partù approach. Tiamat 2020 received Tre Bicchieri in the 2023 Gambero Rosso Vini d'Italia guide, the top score in Italy's most widely read annual wine guide.

In The Glass

The Chardonnay in Rivone shows as a textured white with restrained fruit and a certain weight on the mid-palate from the extended lees work. The bâtonnage integrates the lees richness evenly rather than leaving a thick creaminess; the amphorae phase contributes a faint earthiness that keeps the wine from reading as purely fruit-driven. Acidity from the altitude and calcareous soil holds the wine in shape and gives it the freshness to age.

Partù opens with red berry and darker earth, the character Pinot Nero takes on when grown in clay-heavy soils at moderate elevation. The tannin has some grip, the fruit sits in the ripe register without being heavy, and the finish draws out longer than the entry-level positioning might suggest. Tiamat adds concentration and layering: more parcel complexity, deeper colour, and a density that requires time to open. Both Pinot Neros read as distinctly Italian in weight and savour, warmer than a Burgundy equivalent but without losing the variety's tendency toward fragrance.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Partù. It is a Pinot Nero from Oltrepò Pavese, drawn from multiple parcels across the estate's old vines, barrel-aged and bottled without complication. Red berry fruit, an earthy mid-palate, and firm acidity from the Santa Giuletta hill: those three things together give a clear picture of what this zone and this estate produce. It is less expensive than Tiamat, widely available through Scandinavian and Italian markets, and direct enough that a first bottle becomes a reference point rather than a puzzle.

Anecdote

In early 2023, Gambero Rosso's tasting panel was working through the Italian releases for the annual Vini d'Italia guide. Cordero San Giorgio had existed as a winery for fewer than four years. The siblings had not yet completed formal organic certification, the underground cellar still had more history than recent track record, and the name carried recognition in Piedmont wine circles mainly because of the family's Langhe and Vietti connections. Tiamat 2020 went through the blind panel and came back with Tre Bicchieri, the guide's highest mark, awarded to fewer than four hundred wines across all of Italy. Francesco, Lorenzo and Caterina had bought the estate, begun organic farming, trained their first harvest team, built a cellar practice from scratch, and arrived at the country's top wine rating inside three growing seasons.

Final Word

Cordero San Giorgio is one of the clearer arguments for Oltrepò Pavese Pinot Nero currently in production. The old vines were already planted when the siblings arrived; the family background supplied the cellar judgment; the Tre Bicchieri result confirmed the combination works. For a buyer who follows Italian Pinot Nero from Trentino or knows Burgundy but has not looked south toward Pavia, this estate repays attention.

Sources

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