Italy · Langhe

Matteo Ascheri Azienda Agricola

Seven-generation family estate in Bra, with Nebbiolo vineyards in Serralunga d'Alba, La Morra, and Verduno. The winery has been in Bra since 1880, when the family moved for railway access to Turin and Genoa. Cellar work favours large casks and minimal intervention.

The producer

The Ascheri family has made wine in the Langhe since the early nineteenth century, but the address on the label reads Bra, a market town to the west that sits outside the Barolo zone entirely. That gap between the vineyards and the winery is not an anomaly; it is the estate's origin story compressed into a postcode. In 1880 the family moved their cellar to Bra because the town had freight-rail connections to Turin and Genoa. The vines stayed in the Langhe. The winery, the bottling line, and the address have been in Bra ever since.

Matteo Ascheri runs the estate today alongside his son Giuseppe, who is bringing the family's work into a new generation. Four vineyard holdings spread across La Morra, Serralunga d'Alba, Rivalta between La Morra and Verduno, and the Bra estate in Roero supply grapes for a range that runs from Barolo to Verduno Pelaverga to Gavi del Comune di Gavi. The cellar approach is consistent: large casks, limited technology, few additives. The aim is to keep vineyard character in the bottle rather than correct or amplify it.

Known for

Barolo from Serralunga d'Alba and La Morra; Verduno Pelaverga; Gavi del Comune di Gavi

Notable facts

The story

The Railway Winery

In 1880 the Ascheri family moved their winery from La Morra to Bra. The vineyards were not moving; the grapes would still come from the Langhe. But Bra had something La Morra lacked: a freight railway with direct connections to Turin in the north and Genoa in the south. A wine producer in 1880 moved wine by rail or did not move it far. So the cellar, the bottling equipment, and the family's commercial address shifted twelve kilometres west to a market town where the trains stopped. The Nebbiolo parcels stayed on the slopes above La Morra and Serralunga. Today Bra appears on every Ascheri label, in the address block below the family name, because one generation decided that access to a goods platform mattered more than proximity to the vines.

From the atlas

Matteo Ascheri Azienda Agricola

At A Glance

Producer: Matteo Ascheri Azienda Agricola Winery town: Bra, Cuneo province, Piemonte Vineyards: La Morra, Serralunga d'Alba, Rivalta, Roero Core grape: Nebbiolo (Barolo, Langhe); also Barbera, Dolcetto, Pelaverga, Cortese Entry bottle: Gavi del Comune di Gavi (100% Cortese) Cellar approach: Large casks, minimal intervention, no added technology Generations: Seven

The Producer

The Ascheri family has made wine in the Langhe since the early nineteenth century, but the address on the label reads Bra, a market town to the west that sits outside the Barolo zone entirely. That gap between the vineyards and the winery is not an anomaly; it is the estate's origin story compressed into a postcode.

Matteo Ascheri runs the estate today alongside his son Giuseppe, who is bringing the eighth generation into the work. The family employs its vineyard and cellar teams directly, without agency labour. Four vineyard holdings spread across La Morra, Serralunga d'Alba, Rivalta between La Morra and Verduno, and the Bra estate in Roero supply grapes for a range that runs from Barolo to Verduno Pelaverga to Gavi. The cellar approach is consistent across all of them: large casks, limited technology, few additives. The aim is to keep vineyard character in the bottle rather than correct or amplify it.

Place

Bra sits at the western edge of the Langhe, on the right bank of the Tanaro river. It is not a wine village; it is a commercial town that in 1880 had something more useful to the Ascheri family than good soils: a freight railway connected to Turin and Genoa. The winery is there. The vineyards are not.

The Nebbiolo parcels in Serralunga d'Alba face south to southwest between 280 and 350 metres. Serralunga is the easternmost of the Barolo communes, with compact Tortonian limestone and clay that slows ripening and holds tannin longer than the softer calcareous marl of La Morra. Wines from Serralunga typically need more time and arrive with more grip. The original La Morra ground, where the family began, is on the opposite end of the Barolo spectrum: silty calcareous soils that produce Nebbiolo with softer tannins and more forward fruit.

At Rivalta, midway between La Morra and Verduno at 350 metres, the estate grows four varieties: Nebbiolo, Barbera, Dolcetto, and Pelaverga, a rare Piemontese red grown almost exclusively in the Verduno commune. Across the Tanaro in Roero, the Bra estate sits on sandy marine soil threaded with gravel and marl just below 300 metres. The Roero's sandier geology produces lighter, earlier-drinking wines than the clay-dominant Langhe opposite.

Soil And Site

The Serralunga parcels sit on Helvetian-era Tortonian sedimentary clay and compact limestone, among the most mineral-rich and austere soils in the Barolo denomination. They ripen Nebbiolo more slowly than the Helvetian soils of La Morra and produce grapes with dense tannin and high acidity. The La Morra ground is younger Helvetian calcareous marl with more silt, which gives a different texture: rounder tannin, earlier access.

Rivalta sits on mixed soils at altitude. The Roero estate in Bra is the most geologically distinct: sandy marine deposits from an ancient seabed, with pockets of gravel and marl. That marine sand drains fast and warms early, which suits Cortese for the Gavi programme and lighter-style reds.

Story

The family began in La Morra, in the hamlet that still bears the name Ascheri, sometime in the early decades of the nineteenth century. They farmed Nebbiolo and sold their wine in bulk, as most small Piemontese producers did. At some point before the mid-nineteenth century, they were among the first in the Langhe to use iron wire in place of wooden vine supports, a practical change that made trellising more consistent and spread gradually across the region.

The decisive moment came in 1880. The freight railways had made Bra an important distribution point: from there, wine could be loaded onto trains and sent north to Turin or south to Genoa for export. The Ascheri family moved the winery. The vineyards stayed in the Langhe. The cellars, the bottling line, and the postal address shifted to Bra, where they remain today.

Over the following generations the family expanded the vineyard holdings, adding the Serralunga parcels for firmer Barolo and the Rivalta ground for variety. Giuseppe Ascheri, the most recent generation to join, is developing the estate's direction while Matteo continues to oversee production. The vineyards are managed under The Green Experience sustainable agriculture guidelines.

Vineyards And Cellar

The Serralunga Nebbiolo is grown on south-to-southwest-facing slopes between 280 and 350 metres, a combination of elevation and exposure that concentrates ripeness without losing acidity. Nebbiolo on Tortonian clay builds tannin naturally; the south-facing orientation ensures it reaches full phenolic maturity rather than stopping short. The grape arrives in the cellar with density and grip already established.

Across the holdings the cellar approach is the same: large casks rather than small barriques, minimal use of technology, and low levels of additives. Large casks allow slow, even oxygenation without imparting oak flavour directly into the wine. Nebbiolo in particular benefits from this: the variety's high tannin and acidity do not need the vanilla or toast character that small oak introduces, and the large-cask regime lets the grape's cherry, tar, and dried rose character develop without interference. The Gavi is handled differently: stainless steel only, fermented at 18°C for around fifteen days, preserving freshness and citrus character.

Wines

The range is anchored in Nebbiolo but has four distinct geographic chapters. La Morra supplies grapes for the softer, more open-textured Barolo expressions and for Langhe Nebbiolo, the more approachable designation that drops the commune-level restrictions. Serralunga supplies Nebbiolo for the firmer, more tannic Barolo bottlings: expect denser mid-palate weight, firmer grip, and wines that reward cellaring over a decade or more. Barbera and Dolcetto from La Morra fill out the mid-range with earlier-drinking reds, Barbera with high natural acidity and dark plum fruit, Dolcetto with softer tannin and bitter almond on the finish.

From Rivalta comes the Verduno Pelaverga DOC, made from Pelaverga Piccolo, one of the rarest red grapes in Piemonte. The wine is pale ruby, light-bodied, with vivid acidity and a distinctive aromatic profile: white pepper, rose petal, and spice rather than the dark fruit expected from a red wine. It is made for early drinking and works well with food that would overwhelm most Nebbiolo.

From the Roero estate, the Gavi del Comune di Gavi is made entirely from Cortese, a white grape native to the Piemontese-Ligurian border zone. Gavi del Comune di Gavi is the stricter tier within the Gavi DOCG, requiring grapes from the commune of Gavi itself. Stainless steel fermentation preserves citrus, white peach, and mineral character. The wine is lean, dry, and direct: no oak, no softening lees work beyond what the short fermentation contributes.

In The Glass

The Barolo from Serralunga opens with dried cherry, tar, and dried rose aromas characteristic of Nebbiolo grown on compact clay. The palate is firm: tannin that grips without bitterness, backed by the variety's naturally high acidity. The mid-palate is dense and slow to open. The finish is long and mineral. La Morra Barolo moves differently: the same dried fruit and floral register but with softer tannin, a rounder mid-palate, and an earlier drinking window.

The Verduno Pelaverga is a different wine entirely. Pale in colour, it smells of white pepper and fresh rose, then delivers light body and vivid acidity on the palate. The spice persists on the finish in a way that Nebbiolo or Barbera never quite match. It is one of the few Piemontese reds that drinks well slightly cool.

The Gavi starts with lemon zest and white peach on the nose, clean and precise. On the palate the acidity is the backbone: bright, cutting, and long. The mineral quality comes from the Cortese grape on sandy Roero soils rather than from any cellar addition. No oak, no weight. It finishes dry with a faint saline edge.

A Bottle To Understand It

The Gavi del Comune di Gavi is the right first bottle. It is 100% Cortese, fermented in stainless steel at 18°C for around fifteen days, and bottled young. The nose is lemon zest, white peach, and a faint floral lift. The palate is dry and direct, with bright acidity carrying the wine through a clean mineral finish. There is no oak and no residual sweetness. It also comes from a completely different appellation, the Gavi DOCG near Alessandria, which makes it a genuinely separate chapter in the Ascheri range rather than a simpler version of the Barolo. Start here, then follow the family's Nebbiolo into La Morra or Serralunga when the appetite is there.

Anecdote

In 1880 the Ascheri family moved their winery from La Morra to Bra. The vineyards were not moving; the grapes would still come from the Langhe. But Bra had something La Morra lacked: a freight railway with direct connections to Turin in the north and Genoa in the south. A wine producer in 1880 moved wine by rail or did not move it far. So the cellar, the bottling equipment, and the family's commercial address shifted twelve kilometres west to a market town where the trains stopped. The Nebbiolo parcels stayed on the slopes above La Morra and Serralunga. Today Bra appears on every Ascheri label, in the address block below the family name, because one generation decided that access to a goods platform mattered more than proximity to the vines.

Final Word

Ascheri is a Langhe estate in Bra: the winery moved there in 1880 and remains there. Nebbiolo from Serralunga and La Morra, Pelaverga from Rivalta, and Cortese from the Roero all pass through a cellar in a railway town that became the family's base for commercial, not vinous, reasons. The low-intervention approach in the cellar and the careful separation of vineyard sites mean that each wine carries a distinct character rather than a house style imposed from above. The Gavi is the place to start. The Barolo is where the story becomes serious.

Sources

Open Matteo Ascheri Azienda Agricola in the interactive map →