Prunotto

The story

The Bussia Decision, 1961

In 1961, Beppe Colla walked the Bussia vineyard above Monforte d'Alba and made a decision that had no obvious market behind it. Barolo was made from Nebbiolo grown across a wide area and mostly blended before bottling; the idea that a single hillside parcel deserved its own label and its own bottle was not yet a commercial category in the Langhe. Colla separated Bussia anyway, vinified it apart from the rest of the production, and put Barolo Bussia on the label. He did the same for Pian Romualdo in Barbera d'Alba. The wines that came out were different in weight, character and soil expression from what the blended production had been. The Barolo DOC classification would not arrive until 1966, the DOCG until 1980. Colla was already bottling a wine with a vineyard address before the appellation rules had caught up with the idea.

From the atlas

Prunotto

At A Glance

The Producer

Prunotto sits in Alba, the commercial capital of the Langhe, exactly midway between the Barolo zone to the southwest and Barbaresco to the northeast, on the right bank of the Tanaro River. That geography is not incidental: the winery's range runs across both great Nebbiolo appellations, with a footprint in Barbera and lighter wines that fills in everything around them.

The house began as a cooperative. In 1904, in the council room of Serralunga d'Alba's town hall, a winemaking co-operative called Cantina Sociale "Ai Vini delle Langhe" was formally incorporated, with a young Alfredo Prunotto present as a witness. The first harvest followed in 1905. Prunotto eventually gave the enterprise his name and ran it as a private concern until 1956, when he retired and sold to Beppe Colla.

Colla's era produced the detail that distinguishes Prunotto in the Langhe's history. By 1961, before single-vineyard Barolo had a commercial language, Colla was already vinifying Bussia separately as its own wine and doing the same for Pian Romualdo in Barbera d'Alba. That decision, made without a ready market for it, placed Prunotto among the first generation of Langhe producers to treat individual vineyards as distinct sources rather than blending components.

The Antinori family, already involved in distribution since 1989, took full production control in 1994 when the Colla brothers retired. The single-vineyard approach has continued under Antinori, with the winery and main offices still in Alba where a new facility was purpose-built in 1972.

Place

Alba stands at the centre of the Langhe, the ridge-and-valley hill country of southern Piemonte where Nebbiolo produces two legally separate wines from two distinct zones. Barolo DOCG lies to the southwest, its communes including La Morra, Castiglione Falletto, Serralunga d'Alba and Barolo itself. Barbaresco DOCG sits northeast of Alba, covering the communes of Barbaresco, Treiso, Neive and part of Alba. Barbaresco received DOC status in 1966 and DOCG designation in 1980.

Prunotto works vineyards across both zones, extending also into the Monferrato hills further east for Barbera d'Asti. The Tanaro River, which flows past Alba, is the rough dividing line between the Langhe to the south and the Roero to the north, where the Arneis grape produces the estate's white wine. Operating from Alba means access to all of these appellations without belonging fully to any single commune, a position that explains why Prunotto's range is broader than most single-village estates.

Soil And Site

The Langhe's soils are predominantly calcareous marl and clay, with significant variation between the compacted, iron-rich Helvetian soils of Serralunga d'Alba and the softer, more fertile Tortonian soils of communes closer to Alba. Prunotto divides its roughly 65 hectares of vineyard land across the Langhe and Monferrato into distinct parcels, conducting soil studies to guide rootstock and clone selection for each plot. The aim is to match vine material to soil character rather than apply uniform planting across the estate. Bussia, the flagship Barolo parcel, sits in the western Barolo zone above Monforte d'Alba, on soils that tend toward firm, age-worthy Nebbiolo with notable tannin and mineral depth.

Story

Beppe Colla bought Prunotto from a retiring Alfredo Prunotto in 1956, assisted by Carlo Filiberti and later by his brother Tino Colla. What Colla inherited was a functioning winery with regional standing but no separate vineyard bottlings. Within five years, he had changed that. In 1961, Colla began separating Bussia from the rest of the Barolo production and vinifying it as a standalone wine. At the same time, Pian Romualdo became a distinct Barbera d'Alba. The Langhe had no ready commercial framework for what he was doing: the Barolo DOC classification would not arrive until 1980.

The Colla era lasted until 1994. By then, Prunotto had a new winery near Alba, designed in 1972, and a portfolio anchored in named single vineyards that the market had since caught up with. When the Antinori family moved from distribution partner to production owner, they inherited both the vineyard logic and the cellar it had generated. Progressive cellar upgrades followed: cement fermentation vats gave way to stainless steel to preserve aromatic freshness, and the large 100-hectolitre Slavonian oak barrels used for Barolo and Barbaresco ageing were replaced with a mix of Allier and Slavonian formats ranging from 27 to 77 hectolitres. The smaller sizes extract more gently from the wood and allow the vineyard character to stay closer to the surface of the wine.

Vineyards And Cellar

Prunotto farms approximately 65 hectares across the Langhe and Monferrato, working each parcel as a distinct unit with rootstocks and clones chosen from detailed soil analysis. Sustainable agriculture guides the approach, with a deliberate emphasis on manual work through the growing season. Harvest is done by hand across the estate.

In the cellar, the shift from cement to stainless steel for fermentation reflects a choice to preserve the primary aromatic character of the grapes, particularly important for Barbera and the lighter Nebbiolo expressions. For Barolo and Barbaresco, the move away from very large Slavonian casks toward a range of smaller Allier and Slavonian barrels (27, 32, 53 and 77 hectolitres) changes how the wine interacts with wood: less surface area relative to volume in the old hundred-hectolitre barrels meant slower, more uniform oak contact; the newer formats allow more selective ageing choices while still keeping the wines in large-format oak rather than small barriques. The result for Nebbiolo is a wine that takes on oak more gently, with tannin integration that reflects vineyard origin more than barrel imprint.

Wines

Nebbiolo carries the range at three levels. At the top, Barolo DOCG comes from two parcels in the Barolo zone: Bussia, the flagship vineyard the estate has worked since 1961, and Bussia Vigna Colonnello, a sub-plot within Bussia that is vinified and bottled separately. These are full-scale Barolo: high tannin, firm acidity, dark cherry and dried rose aromatics from Nebbiolo grown on the calcareous marl of the Monforte area, with the ageing depth to hold for ten to twenty years in good vintages. Barbaresco DOCG comes from Bric Turot and Bansella, two named parcels in the Barbaresco zone northeast of Alba. Nebbiolo from Barbaresco typically produces wines with slightly finer tannin and earlier accessibility than Barolo, though Prunotto's Barbaresco 2023 is pure Nebbiolo vinified to age. Occhetti is the third Nebbiolo expression: a Langhe DOC from a named vineyard the estate has supplied since the 1970s, fermented and aged to be approachable within a few years. It carries the grape's characteristic tannin and red-cherry fruit with less weight than the DOCG wines.

Barbera appears in two styles. Pian Romualdo is a Barbera d'Alba DOC from one of the crus Colla identified in 1961, aged in oak and built for food. Fiulot is a Barbera d'Asti DOCG, a lighter wine aged only in stainless steel, with bright acidity and vivid cherry fruit. Its name comes from the Piedmontese dialect word for "young man," signalling the style clearly: it is meant to be drunk young, not held.

The lighter end of the range covers Moscato d'Asti DOCG, the low-alcohol, gently sweet sparkling wine from the Moscato Bianco grape southeast of Alba; Arneis, the indigenous white grape of the Roero across the Tanaro; a rosé; and two grappas distilled from grape skins.

In The Glass

The Barbaresco opens with dried rose, dark cherry and a whisper of tar, the signature aromatic register of Nebbiolo grown on the calcareous soils northeast of Alba. In the mouth, the tannin is firm but not aggressive, built for food and for time; the acidity is high and precise, keeping the wine fresh through a long finish. The fruit character sits in the red-to-dark-cherry range, with dried herbs and a mineral thread on the back palate.

Occhetti, the Langhe Nebbiolo, shares the grape's structural character but at a lighter weight: red cherry, some orange-peel lift, modest tannin that softens within three to five years.

Fiulot is the clearest contrast in the range. Barbera d'Asti carries almost no tannin, and in Fiulot's stainless-steel version it is vivid and immediate: bright cherry, some blueberry, mouth-watering acidity, and a clean finish without the oak overlay that marks the Pian Romualdo Barbera d'Alba.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Occhetti Langhe DOC Nebbiolo. It is the most direct path into what Prunotto does with the region's defining grape: the same Nebbiolo variety that fills the Barolo and Barbaresco labels, from a named vineyard the estate has farmed since the 1970s, vinified to be accessible within a few years. In the glass, Occhetti gives red cherry, a thread of dried rose, firm but approachable tannin, and the high, clean acidity that defines Nebbiolo wherever it grows in the Langhe. There is enough vineyard character to understand the grape's personality without the full weight and ageing demand of the DOCG wines. It is not a simplified version; it is Nebbiolo at an earlier point in its development arc, from a producer whose relationship with named individual vineyards goes back more than sixty years.

Anecdote

In 1961, Beppe Colla walked the Bussia vineyard above Monforte d'Alba and made a decision that had no obvious market behind it. Barolo was made from Nebbiolo grown across a wide area and mostly blended before bottling; the idea that a single hillside parcel deserved its own label and its own bottle was not yet a commercial category in the Langhe. Colla separated Bussia anyway, vinified it apart from the rest of the production, and put Barolo Bussia on the label. He did the same for Pian Romualdo in Barbera d'Alba. The wines that came out were different in weight, character and soil expression from what the blended production had been. The Barolo DOC classification would not arrive until 1966, the DOCG until 1980. Colla was already bottling a wine with a vineyard address before the appellation rules had caught up with the idea.

Final Word

Prunotto is a Langhe estate with a cooperative origin, a private conviction about vineyards that arrived early, and a Tuscan family now carrying it forward. The range runs from approachable Nebbiolo and Barbera to single-vineyard Barolo and Barbaresco built for long ageing, all from named parcels the estate has farmed for decades. Occhetti is the way in. Bussia is where the ambition lives.

Sources

• https://www.prunotto.it/en/
• https://www.prunotto.it/en/the-history/
• https://www.antinori.it/en/tenuta/estates-italy/prunotto-estate/
• https://www.prunotto.it/en/vineyards/
• https://www.prunotto.it/en/the-langhe-area/barbaresco/
• https://www.prunotto.it/en/vino/barbaresco-docg-en/
• https://www.prunotto.it/en/vino/fiulot-barbera-d-asti-docg-en/
• https://www.prunotto.it/en/vino/occhetti-langhe-doc-nebbiolo-en/