Who makes it
The first commercial bottle was a 2015 Barolo, released in May 2019. Margherita Otto was founded by Alan Manley in 2015, after his move from Primitivo, the Colorado Springs wine bar and restaurant he founded in 1997, to making wine in Monforte d'Alba. Its central wine is one Barolo DOCG assemblaggio from Nebbiolo, and the working cellar is beneath the family home.
Four parcels enter one wine, and the first vintage made beneath the home was 2017. The label names the appellation, while the blend carries the different sites into a single bottle.
Where it grows
Barolo DOCG is the appellation, and Nebbiolo is the grape. Margherita Otto's four sources cross the communes of Monforte d'Alba, Serralunga d'Alba and Barolo, then co-ferment as one assemblaggio, or single blend. A bottle labelled Barolo DOCG presents one appellation wine built from several parcels, with geography held inside the blend. Monforte is the home commune, while Vignane and Coste di Rose are named parcels in Barolo and the tannin-bearing source lies in Serralunga.
The Monforte parcel near Ginestra covers 0.48 hectares, faces east at 470 to 500 metres and sits on clay-rich soil with some sand. That ground contributes acidity and firm tannin. A 0.2-hectare Serralunga parcel beside a historic cru adds tannin.
How it is made
The cellar
Vineyard work inside the trellises and harvest are done by hand, including pruning, tying, trimming, scacchiatura, crop and shoot thinning, shoot arranging, trellis cleaning and weaving the ar caplé. This keeps each parcel's canopy work, crop thinning and harvest decisions separate until co-fermentation.
Composted cow manure is applied every four to five years, with low doses of copper and sulfur. Indigenous yeasts ferment the grapes in lined concrete tanks without temperature control. Total skin contact runs roughly 35 to 45 days, including submerged-cap maceration, before ageing in large Mittelberger casks made from French oak selected for neutral flavour effect. Oak flavour stays quiet while the long contact supplies weight and fine grain.
What they make
The range is compact. Barolo DOCG is the principal red, a Nebbiolo assemblaggio from Monforte near Ginestra, Serralunga, Vignane and Coste di Rose. Its direct wine cues are perfume, acidity, firm tannin, weight, fine-grained texture and quiet oak: the sandy Barolo parcels lift aroma, the clay-rich Monforte source supports acidity and tannin, and 35 to 45 days of skin contact give the wine weight.
Vino Chinato is the second named wine, a separate bottle beside the Barolo. It occupies a different range position, while the four-parcel Nebbiolo assemblaggio remains the estate's central wine.
Wines to try
First bottle
Start with Margherita Otto Barolo DOCG. It puts the estate's four-parcel Nebbiolo blend into one glass: clay and altitude from Monforte, tannin from Serralunga, and perfume from the sandy Barolo sites. Indigenous fermentation in lined concrete, long skin contact and large neutral French oak leave the wine with perfume, weight, firm tannin and fine grain. It is the right first bottle because the label, vineyard choices and cellar method arrive together in the estate's central wine.