Italy · Langhe

Margherita Otto

A Barolo estate in Monforte d'Alba, founded in 2015 by American winemaker Alan Manley, with a four-parcel Nebbiolo assemblaggio fermented in concrete and aged in large French oak casks.

The producer

Margherita Otto began with Alan Manley's move from Primitivo, the Colorado Springs wine bar and restaurant he founded in 1997, to Italy in 2011. After autumn harvest work with Luciano Sandrone, Elio Altare, Cantina Mascarello, Alfio and Giuseppe Cavallotto, and Marco Marengo, he made one 500-litre tonneau in each of 2012, 2013 and 2014 before formally founding the estate in 2015. The first commercial release, the 2015 Barolo, arrived in May 2019.

Barolo DOCG is the appellation, Nebbiolo the grape, and the central wine is a single blend from four parcels in Monforte d'Alba, Serralunga d'Alba and Barolo. Clay-rich, high-elevation Monforte contributes acidity and firm tannin, Serralunga adds tannin, while sandy Vignane and Coste di Rose bring perfume and a finer grain. Indigenous yeasts ferment the fruit in lined concrete tanks without temperature control; 35 to 45 days of skin contact build weight before large French oak casks, selected for a neutral flavour effect, leave the wood quiet. The cellar is beneath Manley and Daniela's home in Monforte, and Vino Chinato completes the range.

Known for

Barolo DOCG assemblaggio from four Nebbiolo parcels across Monforte d'Alba, Serralunga d'Alba and Barolo, co-fermented with indigenous yeasts in lined concrete tanks and matured in large French oak casks chosen for a neutral flavour effect.

Notable facts

The story

Buckets, a backpack sprayer and one tonneau each year

Before Margherita Otto had a finished cellar, Alan Manley made his experimental wines beneath a rented apartment in Monforte d'Alba. His equipment was a backpack sprayer, a hand-cranked destemmer and buckets for pump-overs. The rented Pernanno parcel added another chore: every harvested bunch and each piece of equipment had to be carried by hand up and down the slope. From 2012 through 2014, Manley filled one 500-litre tonneau in each vintage, and none of the three wines was sold commercially. The three small lots came before the estate's official founding in 2015 and the first commercial release, the 2015 Barolo, in May 2019. Manley called Pernanno the alcol gym.

From the atlas

Margherita Otto

At A Glance

Margherita Otto is a Barolo estate in Monforte d'Alba, Piemonte. Its central wine is Barolo DOCG, made from Nebbiolo and assembled from four parcels in Monforte d'Alba, Serralunga d'Alba and Barolo. Vino Chinato completes the listed range, and the cellar beneath Alan Manley and Daniela's home produced its first vintage in 2017.

The Producer

The first commercial bottle was a 2015 Barolo, released in May 2019. Margherita Otto was founded by Alan Manley in 2015, after his move from Primitivo, the Colorado Springs wine bar and restaurant he founded in 1997, to making wine in Monforte d'Alba. Its central wine is one Barolo DOCG assemblaggio from Nebbiolo, and the working cellar is beneath the family home.

Four parcels enter one wine, and the first vintage made beneath the home was 2017. The label names the appellation, while the blend carries the different sites into a single bottle.

Place

Barolo DOCG is the appellation, and Nebbiolo is the grape. Margherita Otto's four sources cross the communes of Monforte d'Alba, Serralunga d'Alba and Barolo, then co-ferment as one assemblaggio, or single blend. A bottle labelled Barolo DOCG presents one appellation wine built from several parcels, with geography held inside the blend. Monforte is the home commune, while Vignane and Coste di Rose are named parcels in Barolo and the tannin-bearing source lies in Serralunga.

Soil And Site

The Monforte parcel near Ginestra covers 0.48 hectares, faces east at 470 to 500 metres and sits on clay-rich soil with some sand. That ground contributes acidity and firm tannin. A 0.2-hectare Serralunga parcel beside a historic cru adds tannin.

Vignane covers 1.6 hectares on a southwest-facing hill at 240 to 280 metres, with alternating sand and lighter clay that bring aromatic lift and softer tannin. Coste di Rose covers 1 hectare on a steep east-southeast-facing slope with a high proportion of sand, contributing perfume and a finer-grained feel. The four sites meet in one Nebbiolo wine, bringing fragrance, acidity, tannin and grain into the same glass.

Story

Manley's wine life began with Primitivo in 1997. He moved permanently to Italy in 2011, then spent six to twelve weeks each autumn learning at harvest beside Luciano Sandrone, Elio Altare, Cantina Mascarello, Alfio and Giuseppe Cavallotto, and Marco Marengo. Hospitality became hands-on cellar work.

Trial vintages came before the estate's formal founding in 2015. The first commercial release, a 2015 Barolo, arrived in May 2019. In 2017, vinification moved beneath the home in Monforte, and that vintage was the first made there. The change put vinification and ageing under the home for the first time.

Vineyards And Cellar

Vineyard work inside the trellises and harvest are done by hand, including pruning, tying, trimming, scacchiatura, crop and shoot thinning, shoot arranging, trellis cleaning and weaving the ar caplé. This keeps each parcel's canopy work, crop thinning and harvest decisions separate until co-fermentation.

Composted cow manure is applied every four to five years, with low doses of copper and sulfur. Indigenous yeasts ferment the grapes in lined concrete tanks without temperature control. Total skin contact runs roughly 35 to 45 days, including submerged-cap maceration, before ageing in large Mittelberger casks made from French oak selected for neutral flavor effect. Oak flavor stays quiet while the long contact supplies weight and fine grain.

Wines

The range is compact. Barolo DOCG is the principal red, a Nebbiolo assemblaggio from Monforte near Ginestra, Serralunga, Vignane and Coste di Rose. Its direct wine cues are perfume, acidity, firm tannin, weight, fine-grained texture and quiet oak: the sandy Barolo parcels lift aroma, the clay-rich Monforte source supports acidity and tannin, and 35 to 45 days of skin contact give the wine weight.

Vino Chinato is the second named wine, a separate bottle beside the Barolo. It occupies a different range position, while the four-parcel Nebbiolo assemblaggio remains the estate's central wine.

In The Glass

Pour the Barolo and perfume rises first, with the sandy Barolo sites helping the nose open. Acidity arrives on the palate from the high, clay-rich Monforte parcel, followed by firm tannin from Monforte and the Serralunga component. The 35 to 45 days of skin contact give the middle palate weight and a fine-grained feel. On the finish, tannin remains present, acidity keeps the wine moving, and the large neutral casks leave little overt oak flavor.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Margherita Otto Barolo DOCG. It puts the estate's four-parcel Nebbiolo blend into one glass: clay and altitude from Monforte, tannin from Serralunga, and perfume from the sandy Barolo sites. Indigenous fermentation in lined concrete, long skin contact and large neutral French oak leave the wine with perfume, weight, firm tannin and fine grain. It is the right first bottle because the label, vineyard choices and cellar method arrive together in the estate's central wine.

Anecdote

Before Margherita Otto had a finished cellar, Alan Manley made his experimental wines beneath a rented apartment in Monforte d'Alba. His equipment was a backpack sprayer, a hand-cranked destemmer, and buckets for pump-overs. The rented Pernanno parcel added another chore: every harvested bunch and every piece of equipment had to be carried by hand up and down the slope. From 2012 through 2014, Manley filled one 500-litre tonneau in each vintage, and none of the three wines was sold commercially. The barrels were small, but the slope dictated every trip between vines and cellar. Manley called the Pernanno parcel the alcol gym.

Final Word

Three small experimental vintages led to the first commercial Barolo in May 2019. The wine joins four Nebbiolo parcels in one blend, made and aged in the cellar beneath a Monforte home. The glass carries perfume from sand, acidity and tannin from clay and elevation, weight from long skin contact, and quiet oak from large casks.

Sources

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