Italy · Langhe

Revello Fratelli

A La Morra Barolo producer farming four named MGA vineyard sites, making unfiltered single-vineyard Barolos in a modern cellar style.

The producer

Revello Fratelli farms Nebbiolo across five named MGA vineyard sites in the hamlet of Annunziata, within the La Morra commune of the Langhe hills. The estate's most significant bottles are four single-vineyard Barolos: Giachini, Conca, Vigna Gattera, and Cerretta. Three of those crus sit on the Tortonian soils of La Morra, which produce Barolo with rounded tannins and earlier approachability. The fourth, Cerretta, crosses the commune boundary into Serralunga d'Alba, where older Helvetian soils push the wine into a darker, firmer register that needs considerably more time in the bottle.

The cellar is modern in method: temperature-controlled rotary fermenters, indigenous yeasts, French-oak barriques proportioned by cru and wine weight, and bottling without fining or filtration. The family has farmed Annunziata since 1945, sold all its grapes for two decades, and made its first Barolo in 1967 when an exceptional vintage persuaded Giovanni Revello to hold back part of the harvest. The third generation, Elena and Simone, joined in 2015 and 2016 respectively, the same year brothers Lorenzo and Carlo formally divided the estate to give each family branch room to operate independently.

Known for

Single-vineyard Barolo from La Morra and Serralunga d'Alba, including Giachini, Conca, Gattera, and Cerretta

Notable facts

The story

The First Bottle

In 1967, the Revello family had been farming Annunziata for more than twenty years and had sold every grape they had ever picked. There was no winery, no label, and no plan to make one. That year, the Langhe produced an exceptional vintage, and Giovanni Revello made a decision that had nothing to do with long-term strategy: he held back part of the harvest and vinified it. The resulting bottle was labelled Giovanni Revello and Figli Barolo. It was not the beginning of a project. It was a response to a single good year. Sixty years later, the estate produces four separate single-vineyard Barolos, and all of them trace their existence to that one opportunistic first vintage.

From the atlas

Revello Fratelli

At A Glance

LocationAnnunziata, La Morra, Langhe, Piemonte
GrapesNebbiolo, Barbera, Dolcetto
StyleModern Barolo: short macerations, barriques, no filtration
Key BottlesBarolo Vigna Gattera, Barolo Cerretta, Langhe Nebbiolo
Entry PointLanghe Nebbiolo

The Producer

Revello Fratelli farms Nebbiolo across five named MGA vineyard sites in the hamlet of Annunziata, within the La Morra commune of the Langhe hills. The estate's most argued bottles are four single-vineyard Barolos: Giachini, Conca, Vigna Gattera, and Cerretta. Three of those crus sit on the Tortonian soils of La Morra; the fourth, Cerretta, crosses the commune boundary into Serralunga d'Alba, where older, harder Helvetian soils push the wine into a different register entirely.

The cellar is modern in method: temperature-controlled rotary fermenters, indigenous yeasts, and French-oak barriques, with new and previously used barrels varying by cru and wine, and bottling without fining or filtration. The name on the label has changed as the generations have come in, but the address has not. The family has farmed Annunziata since 1945.

Place

La Morra is the westernmost of Barolo's five main communes, and its Tortonian soils, a mix of Helvetian blue-grey marls and more compact Tortonian limestone-clay, produce the appellation's most approachable tannins. Barolo from La Morra tends to open earlier than wines from Serralunga d'Alba or Castiglione Falletto, and its fruit profile runs toward ripe cherry and dried rose rather than the tar and graphite that characterise the sandstone east.

Annunziata sits at the southern end of La Morra, on gentle, south-facing slopes above the valley floor. The MGA sites here, including Giachini and Rocche dell'Annunziata, are among the most established in the commune. Their labels carry the village name and the vineyard designation.

Cerretta is the outlier. That parcel sits in Serralunga d'Alba, about five kilometres from the home hamlet, on a completely different geology. Serralunga's compacted Helvetian soils produce Barolo with harder tannins, slower evolution, and a profile closer to graphite and dark dried fruit than to La Morra's rounder, earlier style.

Soil And Site

The La Morra parcels, Giachini, Conca, Gattera, Gorette, and Rocche dell'Annunziata, sit on Tortonian soils: layered limestone-clay with a relatively high proportion of sand. This composition drains well and produces Nebbiolo with softer tannins and fruit that resolves earlier in the bottle's life.

Cerretta occupies 0.5 hectare in Serralunga d'Alba on Helvetian soils, a denser, more compact marl with lower permeability. Vines planted between 2000 and 2010 are still in their early productive life, and the combination of young vines and hard soil produces concentrated Barolo that needs longer in the cellar before it opens.

Story

The Revello family arrived in Annunziata in 1945, moving from Cherasco with Giovanni Revello, his wife Caterina Tezzo, and their children Ercole, Maria, and Giacomo. Nine years later, in 1954, the family rented a farmhouse owned by the Parish of San Martino in La Morra. Giovanni and his sons began replanting vineyards the following year.

For more than a decade, they sold everything they grew. The estate had no winery, no label, no cellar operation. The 1967 vintage changed that. It was an exceptional year across the Langhe, and the family decided, for the first time, to hold back part of the harvest and vinify it. The resulting wine was labelled Giovanni Revello and Figli Barolo. Every bottle the estate makes today traces back to that decision.

The second generation, Lorenzo and Carlo, took the estate through its next expansion, building the single-vineyard range and establishing Cerretta as the outlier cru. In 2015, Elena joined the estate. In 2016, Simone followed, and that same year the estate was divided between Lorenzo and Carlo.

Vineyards And Cellar

Vineyard work limits chemical intervention to targeted sulfur and copper treatments. No herbicides or insecticides are used. Summer thinning reduces the crop twice per season, concentrating what remains on the vine.

Fermentation runs through temperature-controlled roto-maceration: rotating stainless-steel vessels that extract colour, tannin, and fruit over short, controlled cycles. Indigenous yeasts carry the fermentation. The combination of short maceration and native yeast produces Barolo with primary fruit character and moderate tannin extraction, rather than the deep pigment and extracted grip associated with extended traditional maceration.

Barolo matures in French-oak barriques, with the proportion of new to previously used barrels varying by cru and the wine. Cerretta spends 12 months in French barriques, 40 percent new, followed by 12 months in Slavonian oak before release. No wine is fined or filtered at bottling.

Wines

The range opens with a Langhe Nebbiolo, the estate's most accessible Nebbiolo bottling, drawn from La Morra parcels and aged in a mix of barrique and larger wood. It delivers the variety's signature cherry and dried rose character with relatively early tannin resolution and enough grip to take food.

Above it sit the Dolcetto d'Alba and two Barbera bottlings: a standard Barbera d'Alba and the Cabot du Re, a barrique-aged Barbera that spends 18 months in French oak and emerges with darker, richer fruit.

The four single-vineyard Barolos form the top of the range:

Barolo Giachini and Barolo Conca are both La Morra MGA wines from parcels close to the historic parish properties of Annunziata. Both share the commune's characteristic ripe cherry, floral lift, and relatively approachable tannin from Tortonian soils.

Barolo Vigna Gattera covers 1 hectare in La Morra. It is the oldest-established cru in the Revello range, with a documented history of ageing in large barrels from 2001 before the estate returned to barriques. Gattera tends toward red cherry, dried rose petal, and fine-grained tannin, with enough concentration to age but approachable within five to eight years of vintage.

Barolo Cerretta comes from 0.5 hectare in Serralunga d'Alba, where Helvetian soils and vines planted between 2000 and 2010 produce Barolo with a noticeably different profile: darker dried fruit, firmer tannin, denser mid-palate. The ageing, 12 months in French barriques at 40 percent new followed by 12 months in Slavonian oak, adds complexity without softening the wine's core. Of the four single-vineyard bottles, Cerretta is the one that needs the most time.

In The Glass

The La Morra wines share a family character: cherry and dried rose on the nose, a mid-palate with moderate depth, and tannins that feel rounded rather than grippy. Acidity is bright but not sharp. The Langhe Nebbiolo gives this profile in its lightest, most accessible form, fresh cherry, some violet, and a finish that fades cleanly. Barolo Giachini and Conca add concentration and more layered fruit, but the tannin weight remains manageable at five to seven years from vintage.

Gattera sits slightly darker and denser than its La Morra siblings. The ripe cherry is still present, but the wine carries more dried fruit, some leather on the edge of the aroma, and a finish with more grip and length. It is the most complete expression of what La Morra Tortonian soil produces in the Revello cellar.

Cerretta is a different wine. The nose is darker, dried plum and graphite rather than cherry and rose. The mouth is fuller, the tannin firmer and more compact, and the finish longer and more austere. It does not show well young. At four or five years from vintage it is still assembled rather than integrated. Drinkers who open a Cerretta before its eighth or ninth year will find a wine that is correct but closed.

A Bottle To Understand It

Barolo Vigna Gattera is the right first bottle from this estate. It is a La Morra Barolo from 1 hectare of estate-owned Nebbiolo, aged in French-oak barriques, then bottled without filtration. The nose opens with ripe cherry and dried rose, the mid-palate has real concentration and depth, and the tannins are fine-grained rather than aggressive. Acidity holds the wine upright through the finish. It is approachable within five to eight years of vintage but rewards another three to five on top of that. Gattera gives the La Morra address, the estate's barrique-led cellar method, and the variety's core character in one bottle.

Anecdote

In 1967, the Revello family had been farming Annunziata for more than twenty years and had sold every grape they had ever picked. There was no winery, no label, and no plan to make one. That year, the Langhe produced an exceptional vintage, and Giovanni Revello made a decision that had nothing to do with long-term strategy: he held back part of the harvest and vinified it. The resulting bottle was labelled Giovanni Revello and Figli Barolo. It was not the beginning of a project. It was a response to a single good year. Sixty years later, the estate produces four separate single-vineyard Barolos, and all of them trace their existence to that one opportunistic first vintage.

Final Word

Revello Fratelli is a La Morra estate with a clear range architecture and a concrete address in the Langhe's most approachable Barolo commune. The four single-vineyard Barolos map the difference between Tortonian and Helvetian soils across five kilometres of hillside, and Barolo Vigna Gattera sits at the centre of what the estate does best: ripe, rounded, place-specific Nebbiolo from vines the family has farmed for decades.

Sources

Open Revello Fratelli in the interactive map →