From the atlas
Pelissero Az. Agr. Vitivinicola
At A Glance
| |
| Location | Treiso, Barbaresco DOCG, Piemonte |
| Founded | 1960 |
| Generation | Third |
| Vineyards | 42 hectares across Treiso, Neive, Barbaresco, Neviglie |
| Key Grapes | Nebbiolo, Barbera, Dolcetto |
| Annual Production | 250,000 bottles |
| Export Markets | 60-plus countries |
| Entry Bottle | Barbaresco DOCG Nubiola |
The Producer
When Giorgio Pelissero returned to Treiso in the 1990s with an oenology degree from the school in Alba, the family estate had already been producing wine for three decades. His arrival turned a farming operation into one with technical grounding: systematic vineyard management across 42 hectares, temperature-controlled fermentation, and a range built to carry the Barbaresco DOCG label into more than 60 countries.
The estate sits at Via Ferrere 10 in Treiso, a hill-town that became an independent municipality in 1957 and sits at the centre of the Barbaresco DOCG zone. Nebbiolo, Barbera, and Dolcetto account for 85 percent of production, all grown from estate-owned vineyards. Pelissero purchases no fruit from outside growers.
Place
Barbaresco is the DOCG appellation that runs east from Alba along the Tanaro river in Piemonte, covering four communes: Barbaresco, Neive, Treiso, and San Rocco Seno d'Elvio. Pelissero farms across three of those communes and also Neviglie, giving the estate access to different slope aspects and soil profiles within the one appellation.
Treiso sits at the southern edge of the DOCG, at higher ground than the town of Barbaresco itself. The elevation in the Pelissero vineyards ranges from 250 to 400 metres, and that altitude slows ripening through the long Piemontese autumn, giving Nebbiolo more time to build acidity and aromatic complexity before harvest. The result in the glass is a wine that carries firm tannin and a clear acid line alongside the grape's characteristic red-fruit and dried-floral character.
Soil And Site
The Treiso vineyards sit on limestone, clay, and sandy soils. Each component plays a role. Clay holds water and moderates summer heat stress, keeping the vines working through the long growing season. Limestone contributes to the firm mineral character that Barbaresco Nebbiolo carries in the glass. Sand drains freely and warms quickly in spring, helping even establishment across the parcels.
The 150-metre elevation range within the Treiso vineyards alone means Pelissero can draw on different ripening rates and tannin profiles from a single commune, though the estate does not specify per-parcel soil conditions for its Neive, Barbaresco, or Neviglie holdings.
Story
The family first bottled wine in 1960. For the next three decades the estate grew quietly, building the winery in three separate phases as production expanded. When Giorgio Pelissero took over management in the 1990s, he brought formal oenology training from Alba's wine school into a business that had been built on practical farming knowledge. The academic grounding reshaped the cellar: systematic temperature control during fermentation, calibrated pressing, and a defined ageing programme using French oak barrels replaced the more improvisational approaches common to family estates of that generation.
The commercial ambition followed. From a local Piemontese producer, Pelissero moved its DOC and DOCG wines into export markets, reaching more than 60 countries across three generations of family management. That arc, from a first wine in 1960 to a six-continent distribution footprint, is the practical shape of the estate's history.
Vineyards And Cellar
The 42 hectares are planted exclusively with indigenous varieties. No single vineyard is contracted out and no external fruit enters the cellar. Across four municipalities, the estate manages its own pruning cycle, harvest timing, and selection decisions.
In the cellar, Pelissero uses gentle pressing to avoid extracting harsh phenolics from the thick-skinned Nebbiolo grapes. Fermentation takes place in temperature-controlled stainless-steel tanks, which preserves the grape's primary aromatics during the conversion of sugar to alcohol. After fermentation, the wines move to French oak barrels for ageing. French oak tends to integrate more quietly than Slavonian oak, contributing some spice without overwhelming Nebbiolo's rose, tar, and red-cherry aromatic register.
The same broad approach applies to the Barbera and Dolcetto tiers, though Barbera's naturally higher acidity and deeper colour respond differently to oak contact than Nebbiolo does.
Wines
The Barbaresco DOCG sits at the top of the range. Within the DOCG tier, Nubiola is the estate's introductory Barbaresco, drawn from Nebbiolo grown across the Treiso estate and the surrounding Barbaresco zone. Above Nubiola sit at least two single-vineyard or selection-level bottlings, though the precise details of those upper cuvees are not available from the gathered sources.
The Barbera d'Alba DOC Piani is the estate's principal Barbera bottling, drawing fruit from the Langhe hills around Treiso. Barbera differs fundamentally from Nebbiolo: lower tannin, higher natural acidity, and a darker fruit profile running toward plum and blackcurrant rather than the cherry and dried rose of Nebbiolo. The Piani undergoes maceration and French oak ageing, and the wine carries the rounder, fuller body that Barbera produces with careful cellar work.
Dolcetto rounds out the three-variety core. It is the lightest and most approachable of the three grapes in youth, with bitter-almond and dark-cherry character, and it typically reaches the table earlier than either Nebbiolo or Barbera.
Together the three varieties cover the main register of the Langhe: the long, tannic, age-worthy Nebbiolo at the top; the fuller, earlier-drinking Barbera in the middle; and the soft, approachable Dolcetto as the everyday bottle.
In The Glass
Nubiola opens with the dried-rose and tar aromatics that Nebbiolo reliably produces in the Barbaresco zone, followed by red cherry and a hint of leather. In the mouth, the tannin is firm from the outset, the grain relatively fine compared with the bigger extraction wines from Barolo. Acidity holds the wine upright, which keeps the fruit from feeling heavy despite the oak ageing. The finish is long, with the tannin drying slightly on the back of the palate and the floral note returning as the wine opens in the glass.
The Barbera d'Alba Piani is a different experience. The acidity is more pronounced from the first sip, Barbera's genetic characteristic rather than a product of altitude or climate. Dark plum and cherry, a rounder mid-palate than Nebbiolo, and a finish shaped more by fruit and oak than by tannin. The wine drinks younger and more easily than Nubiola.
Dolcetto sits lighter still: purple, slightly bitter on the finish, with dark cherry and almond, low acid by comparison, and tannin that resolves quickly. It is the most immediate of the three.
A Bottle To Understand It
Start with the Barbaresco DOCG Nubiola. It is 100 percent Nebbiolo from Treiso and the surrounding Barbaresco zone, gently pressed, fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel, and aged in French oak. The grape, the appellation, the soils, and the cellar approach all meet in this single bottle. Firm tannin, a clear acid line, dried-rose aromatics, and red cherry: these are the characteristics that define Barbaresco Nebbiolo, and Nubiola gives them to you without the premium of a single-vineyard selection. It is also the point at which the estate's 42-hectare farming commitment and its three-generation history become tangible in the glass.
Anecdote
Giorgio Pelissero came back to Via Ferrere 10 in the 1990s carrying a degree in oenology from the school in Alba, the institution that has trained most of the serious winemakers in the Langhe over the past half-century. The estate his family had built over three phases since 1960 was already producing wine, already selling locally, already carrying the Barbaresco DOCG name. What it did not have was a graduate in the cellar. Giorgio walked into a working winery and changed the way it worked: temperature control during fermentation, calibrated pressing, a formal ageing programme in French oak. The bottles already existed. The method changed.
Final Word
Pelissero is a third-generation estate farming 42 hectares of indigenous Piemontese varieties across four Barbaresco-zone communes. Giorgio Pelissero's oenology training in the 1990s reshaped the cellar without abandoning the family's vineyards, and the Barbaresco DOCG Nubiola remains the clearest argument for what that combination produces.
Sources
- https://www.pelissero.com/en/
- https://www.pelissero.com/en/who-we-are/?x=1
- https://www.pelissero.com/en/the-vineyards/
- https://www.enotecadelbarbaresco.it/en/cantina/pelissero
- https://www.cru-terroir.com/our-producers/barbaresco-pelissero/
- https://www.pelissero.com/en/product/barbaresco-docg-nubiola/
- https://www.pelissero.com/product/barbera-dalba-doc-piani/