Valter: ‘We met during secondary school on the bus, in 1984… Nadia’s father [Elvio Cogno] managed Ristorante dell’Angelo in La Morra but his dream was to make wine, and so he began a relationship with Marcarini winery, making wines until 1990, when he purchased land in Ravera, Novello. He was born in Ravera and knew this cru very well.
‘We chose to buy the property and the vineyards in Novello exclusively because of Ravera [defined since 2010 as one of Barolo’s MGA (menzione geografica aggiuntiva) delimited production zones, comparable to a climat in France]. In 1991 that was a brave choice as this area was not yet known, but had a great potential for expression.
‘Initially I worked with Elvio, in 1983-1984, before going off to the army. My mother’s side made wine in Roero so I had some experience, but I never imagined in my life that I would be a winemaker; I studied at engineering school, not winemaking school.
‘All the money that Marcarini gave Elvio when he left, we spent to restore the farm… to prepare it to vinify the first vintage there. It was a lot of hard work. The vision was exactly the same as today. What has changed is our knowledge of how to vinify Ravera – it needs not less than 10 years to understand this cru.
‘Since our Nebbiolo vineyards were located exclusively in a single menzione [MGA], we were faced with a choice: to produce a single Barolo or to diversify each parcel in order to enhance its characteristics. So we began to analyse the clones of Nebbiolo, the age of the vineyards, the soils and the microclimate of each plot. It was a long and focused task, but one which today allows us to produce several Barolo wines in which the character of the MGA Ravera is recognisable, although with distinctive and complementary characteristics.
‘We make four Barolos from the same cru; it’s a Burgundy-style project. Cascina Nuova I consider our educational Barolo. I make an investment with this wine [in terms of its affordability] – Barolo has become too expensive, in my opinion. It’s important to taste and drink and learn what Barolo is – I would say Barolo Ravera best represents our vision today in terms of ageing potential and complexity.
‘We are organic, we look after the vines, and we don’t use any chemicals. We live in the middle of the vines, so it’s to preserve our health – that’s the point. In the past we did a lot of green harvesting because we pushed the vines [to produce more fruit]; today they produce less on their own.
‘In 1991, we had 10ha, now it’s 17ha; it hasn’t changed much. Our daughter Elena was born in 1991, so Nadia joined the winery a little later. But she gave me the power to improve my work.’
Nadia: ‘I remember I was seven or eight and my father brought me some Barolo to taste. I remember the strong tannins. Barolo is different today.’
Valter: ‘The 1990s were much more difficult than today because of the climate; you have a run of difficult vintages – 1991, ’92, ’93 and ’94 – then 1995 comes along and you think, “okay” – but if that vintage was today, it wouldn’t be considered very good.
‘For more than 30 years we have lived with the aim of enhancing the vineyards of this exceptional sub-zone of Barolo, so we are confident to state that Ravera is a contemporary cru, thanks to its unique characteristics that favour producing Barolos that, besides having a great ageing potential, manage to combine complexity and structure with finesse, freshness and pleasantness of drinking. I firmly believe that Cogno and Ravera represent an indissoluble symbiosis, and that Ravera is the productive, pulsating heart of Cogno winery.’
