From the atlas
Nada Fiorenzo
A four-generation family estate in Treiso growing Nebbiolo, Barbera, and Dolcetto across the communes of Treiso and Barbaresco, known for parcel-specific Barbaresco from the Manzola and Rombone vineyards.
At A Glance
| |
| Region | Piedmont, Italy |
| Appellation | Barbaresco, Langhe |
| Village | Treiso |
| Main grape | Nebbiolo (Lampia and Michet) |
| Signature wine | Barbaresco Manzola |
| Defining feature | Separate parcel vinification across Treiso and Barbaresco, with Barbaresco aged up to two years in oak |
The Producer
The Rombone farm in Treiso sits in the Langa hills of Piedmont, where the Nebbiolo grape produces Barbaresco under the same regional classification as the more famous wines made a few kilometres west, in the commune of Barbaresco itself. Carlo Nada bought that farm in 1921. His grandson Bruno persuaded the family to shift from selling grapes in bulk to bottling their own wine in 1982, and Bruno's son Danilo now leads the estate alongside his father.
The estate currently covers around 10 hectares, spread across the communes of Treiso and Barbaresco. The work in the vineyard is manual throughout: hand-hoeing, cluster thinning, hand harvesting into crates. Each parcel is vinified separately, a practice that shapes both the cellar work and the range of wines the estate releases.
Place
Treiso is a self-governing commune in the Barbaresco production zone. Nada Fiorenzo's Rombone and Manzola vineyards lie within Treiso; the estate's Montaribaldi vineyards sit across the boundary in the commune of Barbaresco. All three named sites fall within the Barbaresco DOCG, the appellation that covers the hills around Alba where Nebbiolo is grown for long-ageing red wine.
Within that common classification, the two home vineyards have distinct characters. The importer describes Manzola as quieter and more transparent, letting the hillside speak where Rombone is more forceful. Both vineyards face southwest, giving them the afternoon sun that Nebbiolo needs to ripen on these clay-dominant slopes.
Soil And Site
Rombone has a southwest exposure and predominantly limestone-and-clay soil. Manzola also faces southwest and combines clay and limestone with sandy outcrops. Both soils drain well while holding enough moisture for the Nebbiolo vines through the dry Piedmont summer. The clay component gives the wines firm tannins; the limestone contributes to their acidity and helps the aromatic compounds develop during the long ageing the estate applies to its Barbarescos.
Vines are trained using the Guyot system, with rows vertically trellised. The estate avoids herbicides and other chemical vine-protection products, working with natural soil nutrition and cover crops to maintain biodiversity between the rows.
Story
Carlo Nada brought the family to Treiso in 1921, farming the Rombone land and selling wine in bulk to local restaurants. Fiorenzo, Carlo's son, continued along the same path. The change came from the third generation. In 1982, Bruno Nada looked at what bulk grapes were fetching and proposed a different calculation: stop selling the raw material and make the wine instead, while keeping fewer bunches per vine to improve ripening. He brought the idea to his father Fiorenzo, who gave a single answer in dialect: "Pruvuma," meaning let's give it a go. That year, Azienda Agricola Nada Fiorenzo produced its first estate-bottled wine. Bruno's son Danilo grew up on the estate after that and now runs it with his father, taking the four-generation family line from Carlo's bulk farm to a parcel-focused producer with named Barbaresco sites.
Vineyards And Cellar
The 10 hectares are planted to Nebbiolo, Barbera, and Dolcetto. Nebbiolo fills the Barbaresco-appellation parcels in both Treiso and Barbaresco; Barbera and Dolcetto grow alongside it. Each parcel is harvested separately, with the fruit brought to the cellar in crates.
In the cellar, soft crushing is followed by maceration and alcoholic fermentation with the grape skins and seeds, using temperature-controlled vats with pumping over and plunging. Malolactic fermentation precedes barrel ageing. The Barbarescos can spend up to two years in oak, followed by several months in the underground cellar after bottling. The Langhe Nebbiolo receives 12 months in oak and six months in bottle. Seifile, the Barbera-and-Nebbiolo blend from Rombone, spends 18 months in oak and six months in bottle.
Wines
The range runs from the Langhe Nebbiolo, which draws on the coolest rows at harvest and the estate's youngest vines in Treiso, up through Seifile and then to the two Barbaresco crus.
Seifile is a blend of 80% Barbera and 20% Nebbiolo Lampia, both from Rombone, with the Barbera coming from vines planted in 1946 and the Nebbiolo from 1964 plantings. It carries the richness of those old-vine Barbera roots alongside the austerity of Rombone Nebbiolo, and is classified as a red wine rather than Barbaresco, given its Barbera-dominant composition.
The two Barbarescos come from separate vineyards and carry distinct characters. Barbaresco Rombone comes from the clay-and-limestone Treiso site. Barbaresco Manzola comes from the neighbouring parcel with its sandy outcrops, and is described by the estate as floral, savory, and austere, open and floral when young and gaining harmony with age. Both receive 24 months in oak and six months in bottle.
In The Glass
Nebbiolo from this corner of Treiso shows as bright garnet, with rose petal and dried violet on the nose alongside tar and a savoury, iron-tinged quality that is characteristic of the variety on clay-limestone. The Langhe Nebbiolo is the lightest of the three: cool-fruit sourced from the youngest vines, it is fresh and direct, with moderate tannin and the violet-and-citrus lift that marks young Nebbiolo before tannins have had time to grip.
Manzola is quieter and more translucent than Rombone. Where Rombone drives with force, Manzola opens with red berries, orange peel, and tar, and its tannins are firm without being dense. The sandy outcrops in the Manzola soil appear to give the wine a lighter frame. The wine is austere when young; the estate expects it to reach full harmony with age. The Wine Enthusiast, tasting the 2020 vintage blind, noted a drinking window extending to 2045.
Seifile occupies a different register: the old-vine Barbera brings richness and mid-palate generosity that pure Nebbiolo from these parcels does not, while the 20% Rombone Nebbiolo provides the tannic backbone and austerity that keeps the wine from feeling lush.
A Bottle To Understand It
Barbaresco Manzola is the bottle that shows what the estate has built around parcel separation. It is Nebbiolo Lampia and Michet from a single southwest-facing Treiso vineyard, fermented with skins and seeds, aged 24 months in oak and six months in bottle. On the palate it brings red berries and orange peel over a bed of tar and dried rose, with firm, dry tannins that need several years to soften into the floral, savoury harmony the estate describes. A 2020 professional blind tasting put the drinking window out to 2045. That long horizon is the point: this is a wine to open a decade from purchase rather than the week it arrives.
Anecdote
In 1982, Bruno Nada put a proposal to his father Fiorenzo: stop selling the family's Treiso grapes, which were fetching poor prices, fit out a cellar, and make estate wine instead. The plan included reducing the number of bunches per vine to improve ripening quality. Fiorenzo's response was a single word in Piedmontese dialect: "Pruvuma." Bruno took that as a yes. The family produced their first estate-bottled wine that year, four generations after Carlo Nada had bought the Rombone farm and begun selling bulk to local restaurants. The shift from grower to bottler, decided in one exchange, is still what the estate runs on.
Final Word
Nada Fiorenzo bottles Barbaresco from two named Treiso parcels, each vinified separately and aged up to two years in oak before release. Manzola shows what the sandy clay of that hillside gives Nebbiolo Lampia: red fruit, tar, floral lift, and tannins that tighten through youth and open slowly over years in the cellar.
Sources
- https://www.nada.it/en/history
- https://www.nada.it/en/philosophy
- https://www.nada.it/en/territory
- https://www.nada.it/en/wine-cellar
- https://terrafirmawineco.com/growers/italy/nada-fiorenzo/
- https://www.nada.it/en/wines/barbaresco-manzola
- https://www.nada.it/en/wines/seifile
- https://www.nada.it/en/wines/langhe-nebbiolo
- https://www.wineenthusiast.com/buying-guide/nada-fiorenzo-2020-barbaresco-manzola-nebbiolo-barbaresco/
- https://concierge.totalwine.com/concierge-offers/nada-fiorenzo-barbaresco-piedmont-italy-2020