Italy · Langhe

Michele Reverdito

Family Barolo estate in La Morra farming 26 hectares across four communes, bottling seven separate crus from Nebbiolo grown on limestone, clay and marlstone.

The producer

Michele Reverdito is a family-owned Barolo estate based in La Morra, run by Michele and his sister Sabina from holdings their father Silvano began accumulating in 1967. The first parcel, Bricco Cogni in La Morra, came before a winery existed. Three decades of gradual acquisition followed before the second generation opened the cellar in 2000 and began bottling under the family name. The 26 hectares now spread across four of Barolo's most geographically distinct communes: La Morra, Serralunga d'Alba, Verduno and Monforte d'Alba.

Seven separate Barolo DOCG labels define the range, each vinified independently from its commune. La Morra's soft Tortonian limestone gives earlier-accessible, more perfumed Nebbiolo; Serralunga's compact marlstone gives tighter tannin and a slower arc. Verduno sits on sandier, cooler ground and hosts Pelaverga, a spiced native grape almost exclusive to that commune. The cellar uses large Slavonian oak vessels at 40 and 50 hectolitres, adding depth without flavour, and cement amphoras for the Pelaverga alone. Agronomist Beppe Vivalda works with Michele on chemical-free farming across all sites.

Known for

Seven-commune Barolo DOCG, Verduno Pelaverga in cement amphora, Langhe Nebbiolo from a voluntarily downgraded La Morra parcel.

Notable facts

The story

The Clay Parcel

The Simane parcel in La Morra sits inside the geographic boundary eligible for the Barolo San Giacomo MGA classification. Michele Reverdito looked at the soil and decided against it. The ground is heavy with clay, more clay than he considers suitable for Barolo production, and he has never applied for the higher classification. The wine goes into large cask for twelve months, comes out labeled Langhe Nebbiolo DOC, and sells at a price that reflects the lower appellation. Decanter scored the 2023 vintage at 90 points. The parcel could carry a more valuable label, and Michele has used the one that fits the soil instead.

From the atlas

Michele Reverdito

At A Glance

The Producer

Michele Reverdito is a family Barolo estate headquartered in La Morra, the westernmost of the major Barolo communes, with vineyards spread across four geographically separate parts of the appellation. Michele and his sister Sabina run the winery their father Silvano spent more than three decades building parcel by parcel. The range sits at an unusual address for Barolo: seven separate crus bottled from four different communes, each vinified separately, without a house style imposed to smooth the differences between them.

That spread across communes is the key to reading Reverdito. La Morra limestone produces something different from Serralunga marlstone, and Verduno sits on its own geology entirely, nurturing a grape that barely exists anywhere else. Seven labels is not a prestige strategy; it is the consequence of a family that collected plots across the whole map before a winery existed to bottle them.

Place

La Morra is the home commune and the softest address in Barolo. The soils here are based on Tortonian limestone, which gives Nebbiolo an earlier approachability and more aromatic lift than the tougher Helvetian formations to the east. Wines from La Morra tend to open sooner and show a rounder, more perfumed character.

Serralunga d'Alba, where the Badarina parcel sits, is the geological opposite. Compact limestone and marlstone produce Nebbiolo with much tighter tannin and a slower arc toward drinkability. Serralunga Barolos ask for time in a way that La Morra wines do not.

Verduno, northeast of La Morra, has a cooler microclimate and sandier, more calcareous soils. It is where Pelaverga, a spiced, light-bodied native grape almost exclusive to this commune, still holds ground.

Monforte d'Alba, to the south, combines clay and limestone at higher elevations, adding body and tannin to the Nebbiolo grown there.

The Barolo DOCG appellation covers all four communes. On the label, the cru name signals the soil and the style. Badarina means Serralunga; Riva Rocca means Verduno; Bricco San Pietro means Monforte. The La Morra wines, La Serra, Castagni and Berri, come from the softer home terroir.

Soil And Site

Badarina in Serralunga d'Alba faces southeast at 320 metres. The soil is compact limestone, the kind that holds heat in the morning and drains quickly, giving the Nebbiolo a long growing season and tight phenolic development. The resulting wine carries the appellation's signature: garnet with an orange rim developing early, but structured enough to develop slowly.

Simane is a different proposition. The parcel sits within the geographic boundaries eligible for the Barolo San Giacomo MGA classification, but the soil is heavy with clay. Michele Reverdito considers that clay content unsuitable for good Barolo production and bottles the wine as Langhe Nebbiolo DOC instead, accepting the lower appellation and the lower price. The wine goes into twelve months in large cask and comes out dry and full-bodied at 14.5 percent alcohol.

Across the holdings, vineyard management avoids chemical weeding between rows and any invasive or polluting inputs. Agronomist Beppe Vivalda works with Michele on biodiversity protection and soil maintenance.

Story

Silvano Reverdito bought the first parcel, Bricco Cogni in La Morra, in 1967. He was not building a winery. He was buying a piece of Barolo country, the way farming families in the Langhe did when a plot became available. A second parcel followed, then another. Three decades passed. The fruit went somewhere, in bulk, not in bottles with the Reverdito name.

In 2000, Michele and Sabina took the accumulated holdings and opened a winery. The estates that had fed the bulk trade became the source for a bottling operation. The 26 hectares were now theirs to label. The range that emerged was not designed from scratch; it was a map of what the family had bought, commune by commune, since 1967.

The decision to bottle seven Barolos separately, rather than blend them into a single house wine, was the key move. It required separate cellar work for each parcel and it meant that the wines would differ from each other in ways the market would need to understand. Reverdito chose the harder route and left the communes to speak separately.

Vineyards And Cellar

Each of the seven Barolo crus is destemmed and fermented on its own in steel, then moved to wood, with the vessel size and ageing time set by the characteristics of the individual vineyard rather than a fixed house protocol. The dominant vessel is the large Slavonian oak barrel or vat at 40 or 50 hectolitres. At that scale the wood imparts little flavour; it allows slow, gentle oxidation without adding vanilla or spice from new oak contact.

Barolo Badarina spends 30 months in wood after steel fermentation. The combination produces a wine that carries the Serralunga tannin in a framework shaped by the long wood contact, without any new oak overlay.

The Barbera range divides by vessel. Butti and Delia go into large barrels; the base Barbera d'Alba DOC is raised in stainless steel. Steel gives the base wine its fruit-forward lift; wood gives Butti and Delia a rounder, more textured finish.

Cement amphoras entered the cellar in 2016, exclusively for the Pelaverga grapes destined for Verduno Pelaverga DOC. Cement maintains temperature stability and allows micro-oxygenation without any oak character, which suits Pelaverga's fragrant, light-bodied style.

Wines

Seven Barolo DOCG labels account for the heart of the range. From La Morra come La Serra, Castagni and Berri, wines built on Tortonian limestone with the commune's characteristic aromatic openness and approachable tannin. Badarina comes from Serralunga d'Alba, garnet-rimmed and full-bodied, spicy and fruity on the nose, with the tight, long-ageing grip that Serralunga soil reliably gives. Riva Rocca is the Verduno Barolo, from cooler, sandier ground. Bricco San Pietro comes from Monforte d'Alba, where clay and limestone add weight and tannin at altitude.

Langhe Nebbiolo Simane sits outside the Barolo tier by choice, not by geography. It is Nebbiolo from a clay-heavy La Morra parcel that Michele judges unsuitable for Barolo production. The wine spends twelve months in large cask and comes out dry and full-bodied, 14.5 percent alcohol, with the clay showing as a slightly broader, rounder texture than the limestone Barolos carry.

Barbera d'Alba Butti and Delia are aged in large barrels, producing Barberas with a rounded, fuller body and a fleshy finish. The base Barbera d'Alba DOC is raised in stainless steel for a fresher, fruit-driven version of the same grape.

Verduno Pelaverga DOC is made from Pelaverga, a rare variety that exists in any commercial quantity only in the Verduno commune. The wine is light in colour, fragrant, and carries a distinctive black pepper spice that is characteristic of the grape and has no equivalent in Nebbiolo-based wines.

Langhe Nascetta DOC rounds out the range with a white wine from Nascetta, a Langhe-native white variety that produces dry, mineral whites with a bitter almond note on the finish.

In The Glass

Barolo Badarina opens with garnet and a developing orange rim, the early sign of Serralunga Nebbiolo moving toward its secondary life. The nose is spicy and fruity, cherry and dried herbs, with the tightness that compact limestone gives. On the palate the wine is full-bodied and firm, the tannin present but not aggressive after the long wood ageing, the finish long and dry. It wants food and a few years of patience.

Langhe Nebbiolo Simane is a different register. The clay in the soil softens the Nebbiolo's angular edge; the wine is rounder and broader in the mouth, medium-to-full-bodied, dry, with the twelve months in large cask adding a faint woody warmth without dominating. The fruit is less tight than the Serralunga Barolos, more open from the start.

Verduno Pelaverga is the departure from the range's Nebbiolo wines. Light ruby, almost luminous. The nose is aromatic and floral with a clear black pepper lift. On the palate it is lighter-bodied than any of the Nebbiolo wines, with bright acidity and a spiced, lingering finish. It asks for a lighter table than Barolo: charcuterie, simply cooked fish, aged Toma.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Barolo Badarina. It is Nebbiolo from the Serralunga d'Alba parcel that gave the estate one of its clearest addresses: southeast-facing, compact limestone, 320 metres. After destemming and steel fermentation, the wine spends 30 months in large Slavonian oak. It is full-bodied, spicy and dry, with a firm tannic frame that softens slowly. The oak adds depth without flavour; the Serralunga limestone does the work on the palate. Open it with roasted meat, braised beef or aged hard cheese, and give it at least an hour in a wide decanter. Badarina is the wine that shows what the estate does with its most demanding commune.

Anecdote

The Simane parcel in La Morra sits inside the geographic boundary eligible for the Barolo San Giacomo MGA classification. Michele Reverdito looked at the soil and decided against it. The ground is heavy with clay, more clay than he considers suitable for Barolo, and he has never applied for the higher classification. The wine goes into large cask for twelve months, comes out labeled Langhe Nebbiolo DOC, and sells at a price that reflects its lower appellation. Decanter scored the 2023 vintage at 90 points anyway. The parcel could carry a more valuable label. Michele has used the one that fits the soil.

Final Word

Michele Reverdito is a Barolo estate with an unusually wide geographic spread, seven crus from four communes bottled separately and left to speak for each site. The range runs from the soft limestone Nebbiolo of La Morra to the tight, slow-ageing Serralunga of Badarina, with Verduno Pelaverga sitting outside the Nebbiolo wines entirely. The cellar uses large vessels and long ageing times to stay out of the wine's way. Badarina is the place to start.

Sources

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