Italy · Langhe

Viberti Giovanni

Four-generation family estate in Vergne, in the Barolo zone of Piemonte, producing Barolo from three named single vineyards and Barbera d'Asti Superiore under the Collejato label.

The producer

Antonio Viberti did not inherit a wine estate. In 1923 he bought the Locanda del Buon Padre, an inn in Vergne on the western edge of the Barolo production zone, and began making wine from the cellar beneath it. That hospitality address became the foundation of a house that now works three named Barolo single-vineyard sites and produces Barbera d'Asti Superiore under the Collejato label. Claudio Viberti, youngest son of Giovanni and Maria, runs both the cellar and the business. The fourth generation, twin brothers Jacopo and Tommaso, is already written into the label.

The Barolo range draws from Bricco delle Viole, San Pietro, and La Volta, three parcels on west-facing slopes between 400 and 500 metres, where altitude and afternoon exposure slow Nebbiolo's ripening and preserve the acidity that gives Barolo its long arc in bottle. In the cellar, Barolo ages in tini, large vertical barrels made from steamed rather than toasted oak, keeping the wood effectively neutral so the grape drives the wine. The Collejato Barbera d'Asti Superiore takes a different path: fermented and then aged twelve months on lees in 1,000-litre toasted oak barrels, it comes out rounder and more immediately generous than the Barolo, with dark cherry, blackberry, violet, and a quiet spice from the wood.

Known for

Barolo Riserva from Bricco delle Viole, San Pietro, and La Volta; Collejato Barbera d'Asti Superiore aged twelve months on lees in toasted oak.

Notable facts

The story

The Hill and the Twins

When Claudio Viberti decided to name the estate's Barbera d'Asti Superiore, he had two things to work with: the landscape the wine came from and the family it belonged to. Colle is the Monferrato word for a hilltop, the kind of elevated, west-facing position that keeps Barbera cool enough through a warm Piemontese summer to hold its acidity. JaTo is the acronym of Jacopo and Tommaso, the twin brothers who make up the fourth Viberti generation. Claudio pressed the two halves together into one word. No earlier Viberti label had carried the twins' names; Claudio folded them into the wine instead. Every bottle of Collejato has gone out with both the hill and the brothers on it since.

From the atlas

Viberti Giovanni

At A Glance

Location: Vergne, Barolo DOCG zone, Langhe, Piemonte Grapes: Nebbiolo (Barolo), Barbera (Barbera d'Asti Superiore) Key wines: Barolo single-vineyard and Riserva from Bricco delle Viole, San Pietro, and La Volta; Collejato Barbera d'Asti Superiore Generations: Four, founded 1923 Hectares: Approximately 20

The Producer

Antonio Viberti did not come to wine through inheritance. In 1923 he bought the Locanda del Buon Padre, an inn in Vergne on the western edge of the Barolo zone, and began making wine from its cellar. The hospitality address turned into a wine estate across three further generations without ever losing its connection to that original building.

Today Viberti Giovanni produces Barolo from three named single-vineyard sites and Barbera d'Asti Superiore under the Collejato label. Claudio Viberti, the youngest son of Giovanni and Maria, runs the cellar and the business. The fourth generation, twin brothers Jacopo and Tommaso, is already written into the estate's most visible label.

Place

Vergne sits at the western end of the Barolo production zone in the Langhe hills of Cuneo province. Barolo DOCG covers eleven communes in this part of southern Piemonte, all built on Nebbiolo grown at altitude. The three Viberti single-vineyard parcels at Bricco delle Viole, San Pietro, and La Volta face west at between 400 and 500 metres. That altitude and aspect slow the ripening of Nebbiolo through the summer, preserving the acidity and aromatic intensity that give Barolo its long ageing arc. West-facing slopes lose the morning sun but hold afternoon warmth; vines ripen more evenly, and the fruit arrives at harvest with more natural freshness than lower, south-facing positions.

The Collejato Barbera d'Asti Superiore comes from the Monferrato hills, a different but adjacent territory to the north and east of the Langhe. Barbera d'Asti Superiore DOCG requires a minimum of one year of ageing; the Collejato goes well beyond that.

Soil And Site

The three Barolo sites sit on the western slopes of the Barolo zone at 400 to 500 metres elevation, with a west-facing aspect across all named parcels. The altitude keeps growing temperatures lower than valley floor positions, which for Nebbiolo translates into slower tannin development and a longer window before harvest. Specific soil profiles across the three sites are not documented in available sources.

Story

The estate's first century is a series of deliberate expansions, each one tied to a person rather than a market shift. Antonio established the winemaking address inside the inn in 1923. His son Giovanni took over and in 1967, together with his wife Maria, began the first serious enlargement of the cellar. Maria brought both a cook's instinct for flavour and a clear sense of how to build a business; the combination drove the estate's growth through the following decades.

Claudio, the youngest of Giovanni and Maria's children, absorbed both orientations. He took on the winemaking and the management together, and under his direction the estate added vineyard holdings at Terlo, Albarella, and Ravera while holding to the traditional barrel format for Barolo. The Collejato label, created to carry the estate's Barbera d'Asti Superiore, became the place where Claudio encoded the next generation: the name is part geography, part family, and it signals that the estate intends to keep going.

Vineyards And Cellar

The three Barolo parcels, Bricco delle Viole, San Pietro, and La Volta, each contribute to both standard Barolo and Riserva production. Designated sections within each site are held back for the Riserva, which under Barolo DOCG law requires a minimum of five years before release. The longer period in barrel and bottle allows the tannins from Nebbiolo to knit and the wine's secondary aromas to develop.

Barolo at Viberti ages in tini, large vertical barrels made from steamed rather than toasted oak. The steaming process shapes the oak into the vertical stave form without applying the heat that toasting creates. A toasted barrel adds vanilla and caramel character from the char on the wood surface; a steamed barrel does not. The tini at Viberti are effectively neutral containers, and that neutrality keeps the Nebbiolo grape's character in the foreground rather than layering oak flavour over it.

For the Collejato Barbera d'Asti Superiore, the cellar takes a different route. After fermentation, the wine moves into 1,000-litre toasted oak barrels and undergoes spontaneous malolactic fermentation in those same barrels. It then stays on the lees for twelve months before bottling. The lees contact softens the wine's edges and adds body; the toasted oak contributes a gentle spice that the neutral tini do not.

Wines

The Barolo range anchors the estate. Three single-vineyard wines, from Bricco delle Viole, San Pietro, and La Volta, each carry their individual site character into the bottle. Select parcels from all three produce Barolo Riserva, with the extended ageing regime that designation requires. Across the Barolo range, the neutral tini ageing means the Nebbiolo grape drives every bottle: the rose and tar aromas, the high natural acidity, and the firm tannins that soften over years in the glass.

Collejato Barbera d'Asti Superiore occupies a different register entirely. Barbera carries far lower tannin than Nebbiolo and considerably higher acidity; the wine is rounder and more approachable young. The twelve months on lees and the toasted oak barrel fill out the mid-palate and add a layer of spice that sits behind the grape's fruit. Barbera d'Asti Superiore is a DOCG designation requiring one year of ageing minimum; the Collejato exceeds that and comes out with more depth than the appellation floor demands.

La Gemella Barbera sits alongside the Collejato as another expression of the estate's belief in Barbera as a serious grape, one that rewards careful cellar work rather than early release.

In The Glass

Viberti's Barolo wines open with the classic Nebbiolo register: dried rose, tar, and a suggestion of orange peel over a core of red cherry. On the palate the tannins arrive firm and structured, though the west-facing altitude sites tend toward a slightly finer grain than the heavier soils of the zone's eastern communes. Because the tini impose no oak flavour, what the glass returns is Nebbiolo and place.

The Collejato reads differently from the first pour. The nose gives dark cherry and blackberry with violet florals and a lift of spice from the toasted oak. In the mouth the Barbera acidity is high but the twelve months on lees has built enough body to hold it in balance, and the finish is long rather than tart. The warmth from the grape's natural alcohol comes first; the acidity pulls through underneath it and extends the finish.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Collejato Barbera d'Asti Superiore. It is a Barbera from the Monferrato hills, fermented and then aged twelve months on lees in 1,000-litre toasted oak barrels. The nose gives dark cherry, blackberry, and violet with a quiet spice behind it. On the palate the grape's high acidity is balanced by the body that the lees contact adds, and the finish extends well past the initial impression of fruit and warmth. The toasted oak is present but not dominant; it works as a frame rather than a flavour. The bottle also carries the estate's story: the Collejato name encodes both the Monferrato hilltop the grapes come from and the twin sons who will carry the estate next. No other bottle in the range compresses place, family, and cellar method into a single label with that kind of legibility. The Barolo Riserva from any of the three single-vineyard sites requires more patience and more investment; Collejato is the place to begin.

Anecdote

When Claudio Viberti decided to name the estate's Barbera d'Asti Superiore, he had two things to work with: the landscape the wine came from and the family it belonged to. Colle is the Monferrato word for a hilltop, the kind of elevated, west-facing position that keeps Barbera cool enough through a warm Piemontese summer to hold its acidity. JaTo is the acronym of Jacopo and Tommaso, the twin brothers who make up the fourth Viberti generation. Claudio pressed the two halves together into one word. No earlier Viberti label had carried the twins' names; Claudio folded them into the wine instead. Every bottle of Collejato has gone out with both the hill and the brothers on it since.

Final Word

Viberti Giovanni is a Vergne estate that has moved from an inn cellar to three named Barolo vineyards across four generations without losing the original address or the family's direct involvement. The Collejato is the estate's most readable bottle, and the Barolo Riserva from Bricco delle Viole, San Pietro, or La Volta is where the tini ageing and the high-altitude west-facing sites repay longer attention.

Sources

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