Trediberri

The story

Thirty-Five Years at Ratti, Then His Own Family's Vines

Federico Oberto arrived at the Renato Ratti winery in 1970, when Ratti himself was still alive and still insisting that Barolo did not have to be impenetrable. Federico spent the next 35 harvests in that cellar, working through Ratti's death in 1988 and the years his son Massimo ran the estate, retiring in 2005 without having worked anywhere else. Two years later, three friends bought the old Oberto family vineyard in Berri and asked Federico to come back. The vines at Rocche dell'Annunziata and Torriglione had belonged to the Oberto family for generations. He was running a cellar a few hundred metres from where his family's own vines had grown for most of his life. The first commercial wine from Trediberri came in 2011.

From the atlas

Trediberri

At A Glance

The Producer

Federico Oberto spent 35 years in the cellar at Renato Ratti's winery in La Morra, one of the estates that shaped how Barolo was understood and sold in the second half of the twentieth century. He arrived in 1970, when Ratti was still alive and actively arguing for a more accessible, earlier-drinking style of Barolo. Federico stayed through Ratti's death in 1988, through the years Massimo Ratti ran the estate, and kept going until 2005. When three friends bought the old Oberto family vineyard in Berri two years later and set up Trediberri, they brought Federico in to run the cellar.

The name makes the origin legible: tre, three founders, plus Berri, the hamlet where the vines grow. The Oberto family parcels at Rocche dell'Annunziata and Torriglione had surrounded the site for generations. Federico was not arriving somewhere new. He was returning to a few hundred metres from where his family's oldest vines had always grown.

The estate released its first Barolo in 2011. It now farms about ten hectares across La Morra and the high-altitude commune of Vicoforte, with Barolo DOCG from the Rocche dell'Annunziata MGA as its primary wine.

Place

Berri is a small hamlet at the western edge of La Morra, itself a commune and appellation at the western margin of the Barolo DOCG zone. The Tanaro river runs close below. La Morra sits on soils formed from Tortonian-era deposits, softer and more sand-rich than the compact Helvetian marls that dominate Serralunga d'Alba and Castiglione Falletto on the eastern side of the denomination.

At Rocche dell'Annunziata, sand predominates near the valley floor and the soils become loamier as the slope rises. Sandy, lower-density soils drain quickly, warm early in the growing season, and give Nebbiolo a more open aromatic profile and softer tannin than the dense marls further east. La Morra Barolo tends toward red fruit, rose, and violet rather than the tar and leather notes associated with the eastern communes, and it softens earlier in bottle.

The estate also farms three hectares at Bricco Mollea in Vicoforte, a south-facing vineyard at 600 metres above sea level with a direct line of sight to the Maritime Alps. Vicoforte sits well outside the Barolo DOCG zone and produces Dolcetto and Langhe-designated Nebbiolo under entirely different altitude and temperature conditions.

Soil And Site

Rocche dell'Annunziata is a 30-hectare MGA following historical enlargement of its original boundaries. Trediberri holds 1.3 hectares within it, with additional family vines in the adjacent Torriglione parcel, totalling about 2.8 hectares of old Oberto family land around the winery.

The three planting cohorts at Rocche dell'Annunziata, from 1955, 1961, and 1999, give the site a layered vine age. Old vines produce smaller, more concentrated fruit with greater intensity and less need for cellar manipulation to achieve depth. Sandy soils add lift and early aromatic openness; the loamier upslope sections add body and grip. The combination is the foundation of Trediberri's Barolo character: aromatic, approachable for a Barolo, and built for medium to long development rather than immediate consumption.

Story

When Federico Oberto arrived at Ratti's cellar in 1970, Renato Ratti was already campaigning for a different kind of Barolo, shorter maceration, less oxidative ageing, wine that showed its fruit rather than its tannin. Federico spent 35 harvests in that cellar, absorbing an approach to Nebbiolo that was genuinely reformist at the time.

He retired in 2005. Two years later, three partners formed Trediberri and acquired about five hectares in Berri. The Oberto family land at Rocche dell'Annunziata and Torriglione came with the project. Federico came back, not as a consultant but to run the cellar day to day.

The founding team chose to farm the vineyards for four years before releasing a commercial wine, a deliberate decision to understand the parcels before committing to a style. The 2011 first release was a Barolo from Rocche dell'Annunziata. The range has since expanded: a Capalot rental ran from 2012 to 2017, and the Bricco Mollea vineyard in Vicoforte joined the portfolio in 2018 through a friendship with Massimo Martinelli.

Vineyards And Cellar

Trediberri does not follow a fixed cellar protocol. Fermentation vessels, maceration length, and ageing format are chosen vineyard by vineyard and vintage by vintage, from concrete to stainless steel to large botti grandi, based on what the fruit and the year require. The Baroli generally macerate on the skins for at least three weeks in concrete, which extracts colour, tannin, and aromatic depth without the oxidative softening that comes from other approaches. They then age for two years in large botti, the traditional large Slavonian or French oak casks that give slow oxygenation without adding oak flavour.

The Langhe Nebbiolo is handled differently: fermented in concrete or stainless steel and bottled earlier for a lighter, more immediate character. The Bricco Mollea Dolcetto and Nebbiolo from Vicoforte follow a separate logic determined by their high-altitude growing conditions and the different ripeness profile that 600 metres produces.

The three planting cohorts at Rocche dell'Annunziata (1955, 1961, 1999) are farmed together as a single vineyard but produce fruit of different intensity depending on vine age. The 1955 block is over 70 years old.

Wines

The range has three strands.

The Langhe Nebbiolo DOC is varietal Nebbiolo from La Morra parcels. It is pale in colour, fragrant, with rose petal and red cherry on the nose and a light, low-tannin palate designed for early drinking. The estate recommends serving it lightly chilled. This is not a simplified Barolo but a deliberately different wine: quicker, fresher, and built for a meal rather than a cellar.

The Barolo DOCG Rocche dell'Annunziata is single-MGA Nebbiolo from the old Oberto family parcels. It combines the three planting cohorts into one wine and is shaped by the sandy valley-floor soils and loamier upslope sections. Aromatic and relatively approachable for a Barolo at release, it has the tannic grip, deep cherry and rose character, and savory, mineral finish that Nebbiolo on La Morra's softer soils produces. Long maceration and two years in botti build the wine for five to fifteen years of development.

The Bricco Mollea wines, Dolcetto and Nebbiolo from Vicoforte at 600 metres, represent a third strand shaped by altitude and proximity to the Alps. These do not carry the Barolo designation; they fall under the Langhe DOC and offer a cooler-climate expression of both varieties.

In The Glass

The Langhe Nebbiolo opens with pale ruby colour, high-toned red cherry, rose, and a faint herbal lift. The palate is light-bodied with soft tannin and bright acidity that keeps it from feeling thin. It finishes quickly and cleanly, with no oak, no weight, and nothing that asks for patience.

The Rocche dell'Annunziata Barolo is a fuller picture. On the nose it shows dried rose, cherry, a hint of violet, and the faintly savory, iron-tinged mineral quality that Nebbiolo grown on sandy La Morra soils often carries. In the mouth the tannin is present but not aggressive, firm without being drying, with a mid-palate that fills out from the old vine fruit concentration. Acidity is the backbone: it gives the wine its length and pull through a finish that extends into dried herb and mineral. Wine Enthusiast assessed the 2020 Rocche as showing dark cherry, anise, and a savory, mineral quality, with firm tannin and a drinking window that opens in the mid-2020s and holds through the 2030s.

A Bottle To Understand It

The Barolo Rocche dell'Annunziata DOCG is the bottle to start with. It is single-MGA Nebbiolo from La Morra's sandier soils, from vines planted in 1955, 1961, and 1999, made by a cellar director whose understanding of how La Morra Nebbiolo behaves runs back to 1970. The wine sits between the lighter freshness of the Langhe Nebbiolo and the heavier extract you find from Barolo's eastern communes: it has real depth and tannic grip, but the aromatics are open and the palate is generous enough that a bottle opened five years after vintage gives you something complete. Buy a current release, open it with a few hours of air, and it shows you what La Morra's sandy floor soils do to Nebbiolo.

Anecdote

Federico Oberto arrived at the Renato Ratti winery in 1970, when Ratti himself was still alive and still insisting that Barolo did not have to be impenetrable. Federico spent the next 35 harvests in that cellar, working through Ratti's death in 1988 and the years his son Massimo took over, retiring in 2005 without having worked anywhere else. Two years later, three friends bought the old Oberto family vineyard in Berri and asked Federico to come back. The vines at Rocche dell'Annunziata and Torriglione had belonged to the Oberto family for generations. He was running a cellar a few hundred metres from where his family's own vines had grown for most of his life. The first commercial wine from Trediberri came in 2011.

Final Word

Trediberri is a young estate with old vines and an older cellar memory. The Rocche dell'Annunziata parcels go back to 1955; the cellar knowledge goes back further, to a formative decade in La Morra's wine history. The range is deliberately limited, the protocols deliberately flexible, and the Barolo is deliberately of its place: fragrant, sandy-soiled La Morra, not the dense, austere eastern communes. That clarity of address, one MGA, one grape, one cellar philosophy chosen vintage by vintage, is what makes the estate legible and the wine worth seeking.

Sources

• https://www.trediberri.com/en/about-us/
• https://www.trediberri.com/en/vineyards/
• https://www.trediberri.com/en/rocche-dellannunziata/
• https://www.polanerselections.com/producers/trediberri/
• https://www.trediberri.com/en/vini/langhe-nebbiolo-doc-trediberri/
• https://www.trediberri.com/en/vini/barolo-rocche-dellannunziata-docg/
• https://www.wineenthusiast.com/buying-guide/trediberri-2020-rocche-dellannunziata-nebbiolo-barolo/