Josetta Saffirio

At A Glance

**Location:** Monforte d'Alba, Barolo, Piemonte, Italy
**Core grape:** Nebbiolo
**Listed wines:** Barolo Castelletto
**Estate size:** Five hectares
**Farming:** Organically certified
**Cellar:** Indigenous yeast ferments, no fining or filtration for red wines
**Founded:** Mid-1970s, wine production from 1975; first Barolo released 1985
**Current producer:** Sara Vezza

The Producer

In the mid-1970s, a twenty-three-year-old woman named Josetta Saffirio decided to stop selling her family's Nebbiolo grapes to other winemakers and bottle them herself. Her family had farmed the Castelletto hillside in Monforte d'Alba for years without ever putting their name on a label. Josetta changed that. Wine production began in 1975, and ten years of work in the cellar brought the first Barolo to release in 1985, carrying a label she drew herself.

The estate now occupies five hectares on that same hillside in Monforte d'Alba, one of the eleven communes entitled to produce Barolo in the Langhe hills of southern Piemonte. Sara Vezza, who came to lead the estate in 1999 after a pause in production during the 1990s, has become one of the most visible women in Langhe winemaking. She rebuilt the range, completed organic certification across all vineyards, and in 2006 commissioned a new cellar built into the hillside with natural cork insulation, designed to stay cool without mechanical refrigeration.

The portfolio is compact and precisely sourced: Barolo from Castelletto, a Langhe Nebbiolo DOC, a Langhe Rosato, an Alta Langa DOCG sparkling wine, and a few hundred cases of Rossese Bianco, one of Piemonte's rarest white grapes.

Place

Monforte d'Alba sits at the southwestern edge of the Barolo zone, where the Langhe hills rise steeply above the Belbo and Tanaro river valleys. The commune is known for producing Barolo with notable weight and dark fruit, shaped by its elevation and the predominantly calcareous soils that run through the hillside parcels.

The Castelletto hillside, where Josetta Saffirio's five hectares sit, is in Monforte d'Alba. The Barolo appellation label indicates Nebbiolo grown in one of those eleven specified communes, aged for a minimum period in oak before release. Castelletto as a named hillside locates the wine within Monforte's particular soils and slope.

Soil And Site

The Castelletto hillside has calcareous soils. These compact, limestone-rich soils drain well, limit vine vigour, and push Nebbiolo toward concentration and firm tannin rather than volume.

Story

Josetta Saffirio grew up farming a family vineyard that had never produced wine under its own name. When she took charge in the mid-1970s, the estate's Nebbiolo went to négociants. She changed the direction entirely, building a small winery on the property and learning the cellar work herself. The first Barolo came in 1985. She designed the label herself for that release, and it remains on the bottles today.

The estate entered a difficult period in the 1990s and production was suspended for a time. Sara Vezza revived it in 1999. She expanded the range carefully, adding the Alta Langa sparkling wine and building out the Rossese Bianco holding. Organic certification followed across all five hectares, formalising farming practices the estate had been moving toward for over twenty years. The 2006 cellar construction was the clearest architectural statement of that direction: a building designed to sit inside the hillside rather than above it, insulated with natural cork, with gravity flow replacing pumps wherever possible.

Vineyards And Cellar

All five hectares are organically farmed, with no synthetic herbicides, pesticides, or fertilisers in the vineyards. The Castelletto parcels are planted to Nebbiolo for Barolo, with a small half-hectare holding of old-vine Rossese Bianco, a native Monforte variety that came close to extinction before its rediscovery in the 1970s.

Red wines ferment on indigenous yeast without temperature correction using commercial cultures. Maceration time is extended to extract tannin and colour from Nebbiolo. No fining agents are added, and the wines are not filtered before bottling. The Alta Langa sparkling wine ferments in bottle by the traditional method, the same technique used in Champagne, with the second fermentation producing its bubbles and its bread crust character developing during lees contact.

Wines

Nebbiolo runs through almost every bottle. Barolo Castelletto is made from the Castelletto hillside in Monforte d'Alba, with long maceration in the cellar and extended ageing, then bottled without filtration.

The Langhe Nebbiolo DOC is an earlier-access version of that same grape on the same hillside. It shows candied cherry, sour cherry, rose petal and dried fruit on the nose and could use time in bottle to more fully harmonize. The Langhe Rosato is made from Nebbiolo too, a pale rosé with violet, raspberry and tropical fruit on the nose and fresh acidity through the palate.

The Alta Langa DOCG Brut is made from Pinot Nero and Chardonnay, the two permitted grapes for Alta Langa, by the traditional method. Bright citrus, stone fruit, red apple and bread crust appear on the nose, with a creamy palate, vibrant acidity and a silky, extended finish. The Rossese Bianco stands apart from the rest of the range: a still white wine from a native grape so rare that very few commercial bottles exist anywhere in Piemonte. Apple, lime, citrus and dill lead on the nose; the palate adds spice, herbs, orange peel and citrus across a medium body, finishing dry and long.

In The Glass

The Langhe Nebbiolo shows candied cherry and sour cherry fruit, rose petal and dried fruit. The Alta Langa sparkles cleanly through citrus and stone fruit, with bread crust depth from lees contact and a creamy, persistent finish. The Rossese Bianco is aromatic and dry, with apple and lime freshness on the nose giving way to spice, herb and orange peel on a medium-weight palate with tart fruit and a long, clean finish. The Rosato offers lighter, more immediate drinking: violet, raspberry, fresh acidity, and enough Nebbiolo character to connect it to the rest of the range.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Langhe Nebbiolo. It comes from the same organically farmed Nebbiolo on the Castelletto hillside as the Barolo, vinified with the same indigenous yeast and the same decision not to fine or filter. The wine shows candied cherry, sour cherry and rose petal on the nose, with tannin and acidity. It shows what Josetta Saffirio does with Nebbiolo before that grape is given the full Barolo treatment, and the Barolo is the next bottle.

Anecdote

In the mid-1970s, Josetta Saffirio's family had been growing Nebbiolo on the Castelletto hillside in Monforte d'Alba for years. The grapes went to other producers. The family name appeared nowhere on a wine label. Josetta was around twenty-three when she decided to change that, taking charge of the estate and beginning to vinify the Nebbiolo herself. Ten years passed while she learned the cellar and built a small winery on the property. When the first Barolo was finally ready in 1985, it needed a label. Josetta drew one herself, without a hired designer, without a typographer. That drawing went to print. It has appeared on every bottle the estate has produced since.

Final Word

Josetta Saffirio is a five-hectare estate in Monforte d'Alba that made its first wine in 1975 and its first Barolo in 1985, both decisions taken by a young woman working against the grain of a zone that sold most of its grapes in bulk. Sara Vezza has kept the direction unchanged: organic farming, indigenous yeast, no fining, no filtration for the reds. The Barolo Castelletto is the estate's heart, and the Langhe Nebbiolo is the clearest way into understanding what that heart beats for.

At A Glance

The Producer

Place

Soil And Site

Story

Vineyards And Cellar

Wines

In The Glass

A Bottle To Understand It

Anecdote

Final Word

Sources

Where to go next