From the atlas
Fontanabianca
A Pola family estate in Neive making Barbaresco from two named crus, with a range that runs from stony Nebbiolo to aromatic Arneis and a Nebbiolo-Dolcetto rosato.
At A Glance
| |
| Region | Piedmont, Langhe |
| Appellation | Barbaresco DOCG; Barbera d'Alba DOC; Langhe DOC |
| Village | Neive |
| Main grapes | Nebbiolo, Barbera, Arneis, Dolcetto |
| Signature wine | Barbaresco Bordini / Barbaresco Serraboella |
| Defining feature | All wines are varietal; oak capped at fifteen months |
The Producer
In the valley below Neive, a natural spring once served as the water source for the village and its animals. The Pola family named their estate after it: Fontanabianca, the white fountain. Franco Pola began the work in 1969, converting what his father Secondo had run as a general farm into a winery dedicated to the Neive commune's Nebbiolo, Dolcetto, Barbera and Arneis. Three generations later, Franco's son Aldo and daughter-in-law Luisella manage the estate alongside Matteo Pola, the winemaker son who represents the third generation at the helm.
Fontanabianca's two Barbaresco crus, Bordini and Serraboella, give the estate its Neive anchors. The winery itself sits in the Bordini hamlet, surrounded by vineyards. Every wine in the range is made from a single grape variety, a commitment the estate holds across all its bottlings.
Place
Neive is one of the four communes that make up the Barbaresco appellation in the Langhe hills of Piedmont. Barbaresco as a designation covers Nebbiolo grown within those communes, aged in oak, and produced under rules that separate it from the Barolo zone further west. Within Neive, Bordini and Serraboella are the named crus that Fontanabianca works. Both sites are in the same commune, so the estate's Barbaresco range never reaches beyond a single Neive address.
The Langhe Arneis and Barbera d'Alba bottlings draw from the same commune, keeping the whole estate concentrated in Neive's calcareous-clay soils.
Soil And Site
The vineyards in the Neive commune sit on calcareous-clayish ground of medium texture. Limestone provides the chalk-and-mineral backbone the soils are known for in this part of the Langhe; the clay fraction holds moisture and gives the vines roots something to grip through dry stretches. On this ground, Nebbiolo develops the aromatic character and body that calcareous-clay Barbaresco is associated with, while Arneis keeps brightness and acidity that might dissipate on richer soils.
Fontanabianca tends these plots through manual work, non-aggressive treatments and soil analysis, farming practices that keep the vines healthy without pushing yields or ripeness beyond what the site naturally gives.
Story
Secondo Pola ran the property as a farm before his son Franco redirected it toward wine in 1969. That shift established Fontanabianca as a Barbaresco producer, and Franco's decision to build around Neive's two crus, Bordini and Serraboella, gave the estate the Neive focus it still holds. When Aldo Pola took over from Franco, he continued the same Neive-focused approach, adding Luisella to the family enterprise. The succession reached its third stage when Matteo Pola, Aldo and Luisella's son, took up winemaking and joined his father at the helm.
The estate's philosophy has stayed consistent across those three generations: single-variety wines, wood ageing capped at fifteen months for the Nebbiolo-based bottlings, and stainless steel for the whites and Dolcetto. The winery has been modernized over the years, with temperature-controlled stainless-steel fermentation vats and dedicated maturation space for the oak-aged wines, but the principle of letting the grape and site carry the wine has not changed.
Vineyards And Cellar
The estate grows Nebbiolo for Barbaresco and Langhe Nebbiolo, Barbera for the Barbera d'Alba Superiore, Arneis for the Langhe Arneis, and Dolcetto for Dolcetto d'Alba, all within the commune of Neive. No wine blends across varieties.
Fermentation happens in temperature-controlled stainless-steel vats. For Barbaresco, Barbera d'Alba Superiore and Langhe Nebbiolo, the wine then moves into oak, using a combination of large barrels and smaller barriques, for a period that never exceeds fifteen months. The Barbera d'Alba Superiore spends twelve to thirteen months in this oak combination. Dolcetto and Arneis skip wood entirely, maturing only in stainless steel.
The Langhe Rosato, a blend of sixty percent Nebbiolo and forty percent Dolcetto, follows a different path. After one to three hours of cold skin maceration, adjusted by vintage to reach the right colour, the wine is soft-pressed and fermented in stainless steel for twenty days. It then rests on its lees for several months in cement and steel tanks before bottling. Lees contact at this stage adds a slight weight and breadth to the wine without altering its fresh character.
Wines
The Barbaresco crus, Bordini and Serraboella, sit at the top of the range. Both are pure Nebbiolo from named Neive sites, aged in a combination of large and small oak for no more than fifteen months. They show the aromatic depth and firm tannin that Barbaresco's calcareous-clay soils and Nebbiolo's long maceration potential can produce.
The Barbera d'Alba Superiore is a varietal Barbera aged twelve to thirteen months in oak. Oak softens Barbera's already moderate tannins and gives the wine some weight without masking the grape's natural acidity and mineral character. Peach, plum and cherry make up the aromatic frame; the palate shows mineral grip and lively acid.
The Langhe Arneis, sold as Sommo, is made entirely from Arneis, vinified in temperature-controlled stainless steel and matured for three months before release. It brings orange zest, stone fruit and delicate herbal spice, with a medium-bodied palate of white-apple fruit, mineral grip and a finish with restrained sweetness.
The Langhe Rosato, a Nebbiolo-Dolcetto blend, offers citrus and peach on the nose, with freshness and salinity on the palate. Lees contact in cement and steel gives it slightly more texture than a simple pressed rosato.
Dolcetto d'Alba completes the range, matured in stainless steel only.
In The Glass
Nebbiolo anchors the serious half of the cellar. The Barbaresco crus carry the aromatic depth and structured tannin the grape develops on Neive's calcareous-clay soils: rose petal, tar, dried cherry and dried herb on the nose; firm, dry tannin and bright acidity on the palate; a finish that gains length with time. The oak cap of fifteen months keeps the wood from dominating: enough time to soften the tannin, not enough to obscure the site.
The Barbera d'Alba Superiore runs warmer: peach, plum, cherry, with a mineral frame and acidity that stays lively despite twelve to thirteen months in barrel. Barbera's natural acid profile means the oak sits on top of the fruit rather than at the centre, leaving a wine with both fruit weight and freshness.
Sommo Arneis is lighter on its feet: orange zest, stone fruit, herbal spice, a medium body, and a finish where white-apple fruit and minerality stay present without turning sharp. Three months in steel preserves what Arneis has on the nose and keeps the palate crisp.
The rosato brings citrus and peach from the Nebbiolo-Dolcetto skin contact, with salinity and freshness that carry through to the finish. Lees ageing in cement and steel adds enough weight to give the wine texture without pulling it toward richness.
A Bottle To Understand It
Sommo, the estate's Langhe Arneis, is the bottle to open first. Arneis is Piedmont's white grape, grown across the Langhe hills and the Roero zone, and Fontanabianca's version comes from Neive soils, vinified and matured entirely in stainless steel over three months. The wine is medium-bodied, with orange zest, stone fruit and herbal spice on the nose, a palate of white-apple fruit and mineral grip, and a finish with restrained natural sweetness. It shows the estate's approach to white wine: no oak, no extended ageing, nothing added beyond what Arneis brings from calcareous-clay ground. That directness is the Fontanabianca signature before Nebbiolo's weight and tannin come into the picture.
Anecdote
Fontanabianca takes its name from a spring in the valley below Neive. The source was not decorative: before the village had piped water, Neive's households and farmers drew on it for domestic use and for their animals. When Franco Pola began converting his father Secondo's farm into a winery in 1969, the name he chose for the estate was drawn from that practical, local geography rather than from any family surname or hillside ambition. The white fountain that served the village became the address of a Barbaresco producer, carrying a piece of everyday Neive life into every label.
Final Word
Fontanabianca is a three-generation Neive estate making single-variety wines from Barbaresco's calcareous-clay soils, with two named crus, Bordini and Serraboella, at the top and an Arneis, a Barbera and a Nebbiolo-Dolcetto rosato filling out the range below.
Sources
- https://www.fontanabianca.it/en/fontanabianca.php
- https://www.fontanabianca.it/en/vigneti.php
- https://www.fontanabianca.it/en/cantina.php
- https://www.fontanabianca.it/en/ivini.php
- https://www.ethicawines.com/the-history-of-fontanabiancas-barbaresco/
- https://www.fontanabianca.it/en/barbera.php
- https://www.fontanabianca.it/en/arneis.php
- https://www.fontanabianca.it/de/langhe-rosato.php
- https://www.superiore.de/en/wine/piedmont/fontanabianca/sommo-arneis-langhe-doc-2024.html