Elvio Cogno

Elvio Cogno, born in 1936 and originally from Novello, came from a family that had grown grapevines for generations. He first conceived of making wine at the Ristorante dell'Angelo in La Morra, and by the end of the 1950s he left the restaurant business to make wine full time, working with the Marcarini winery and its Brunate vineyards in La Morra. The first Barolo the Cogno family bottled was the 1961 vintage, and in 1964 he put the vineyard name Brunate on the label. He went on to become a partner in Marcarini. At the end of the 1980s he decided to strike out on his own, and in 1990 he bought the Cascina Nuova, a farmhouse in Ravera just below the town of Novello. The first Nebbiolo harvest there was in 1991, and the wine reached the market four years later as Barolo Ravera. The estate's history presents it as the first bottle to carry the name of the vineyard and terroir on its label, a practice regulated only years later; Ravera has been one of Barolo's delimited MGA zones since 2010. In 1996 Elvio Cogno passed the business to his daughter Nadia Cogno and his son-in-law Valter Fissore, who finished the reconstruction work with the granaries of Cascina Nuova and bought new vineyards, among them Bricco Pernice within Ravera.

• Elvio Cogno (1936-2016), originally from Novello
• 1961: first Barolo bottled by the Cogno family; 1964: Brunate named on the label
• 1990: Cascina Nuova in Ravera bought; 1991: first Nebbiolo harvest
• 1996: business passed to Nadia Cogno and Valter Fissore
• Bricco Pernice, within Ravera, bought after the 1996 handover

As of October 2026, Nadia Cogno and Valter Fissore direct the winery. Fissore had worked under Elvio Cogno at Marcarini before following him to Novello, and he was co-owner and winemaker of the estate as of September 2020. Nadia Cogno and Valter Fissore married in 1988, and their daughter Elena was born in 1991; Elena drew the chick that has appeared on the Vigna Elena label ever since, when she was three years old, and designed the Bricco Pernice label. The winery's legal name is Elvio Cogno società agricola s.s., at Località Ravera 2 in Novello, but it presents itself under the name Cogno.

• Nadia Cogno and Valter Fissore: direct the winery (as of October 2026)
• Valter Fissore: co-owner and winemaker (as of September 2020)
• Elena: daughter of Nadia and Valter, born 1991; drew the Vigna Elena and Bricco Pernice labels

The winery owns about fifteen hectares of vineyard in Novello, one of the eleven townships in the province of Cuneo where Barolo DOCG can be made. Nine and a half hectares lie in Ravera, the best-known cru of Novello, and Cogno has the most vineyard land within the Ravera menzione. The Barolo vineyards are worked as four distinct sites. Cascina Nuova covers three hectares facing the farmhouse of the same name, with vines averaging 21 years at about 380 meters, facing south; these are the estate's youngest vineyards. The Ravera vineyards extend for about two and a half hectares at 380 meters with south and southeast exposure, on very compact calcareous clay, with a microclimate shaped by Alpine currents and moderated by the nearby Tanaro River. Bricco Pernice, named for the partridges that nest there, has white soil with a high share of limestone interspersed with clay, which sets it apart from the rest of Ravera; two of its three parcels carry 25-year-old vines and the third averages fifty years. Vigna Elena is about one hectare inside Ravera, on calcareous clay with southeast exposure at about 380 meters.

• About 15 ha in Novello, 9.5 ha of them in Ravera
• Cascina Nuova: 3 ha, south-facing, about 380 m, vines averaging 21 years
• Ravera: about 2.5 ha, 380 m, south and southeast exposure, compact calcareous clay
• Bricco Pernice: three parcels on limestone-rich white soil with clay
• Vigna Elena: about 1 ha, southeast exposure, about 380 m

Cogno began converting to organic production several years ago, with the practices to be followed once European certification is obtained, and it has eliminated synthetic treatments and fertilizers in the vineyards. In the cellar the approach is traditional: long, spontaneous fermentation, slow extraction, a prudent use of submerged cap and large barrels, with technology used sparingly. The Barolos ferment in temperature-controlled stainless steel with a post-fermentation maceration of 30 days on a submerged cap. Barolo Ravera ages 24 months in large 25 to 30 hectoliter Slavonian oak barrels, Bricco Pernice 36 months in barrels of the same size, and the Vigna Elena Riserva 36 months in large 50 hectoliter Slavonian oak barrels followed by 24 months in bottle; Vigna Elena is fermented with native yeasts.

• Organic conversion under way; synthetic treatments and fertilizers eliminated in the vineyards
• Long, spontaneous fermentation and large barrels
• Barolos: 30-day post-fermentation maceration with submerged cap
• Ravera 24 months, Bricco Pernice 36 months, Vigna Elena 36 months in large Slavonian oak

The lineup has four Barolo DOCG wines, all from Ravera. Barolo Cascina Nuova is an assemblage of the youngest vineyards, about 20,000 bottles. Barolo Ravera comes from the Lampia and Michet sub-varieties of Nebbiolo, about 14,000 bottles. Barolo Ravera Bricco Pernice is made from Lampia on one hectare at 320 meters, 5,000 to 6,000 bottles. Barolo Riserva Ravera Vigna Elena is made entirely from the Rosé sub-variety of Nebbiolo, only in great vintages, 5,000 to 6,000 bottles. Beyond Barolo, Cogno makes Barbaresco DOCG Bordini from two hectares of Lampia in the Bordini MGA in Neive, born of a collaboration with a friend and producer in Neive; Langhe Nebbiolo DOC Montegrilli; Barbera d'Alba DOC Bricco dei Merli; Barbera d'Alba DOC Pre-Phylloxera, from a quarter-hectare plot in Berri near La Morra whose vines, older than a hundred years, grow on their own Vitis vinifera roots; Dolcetto d'Alba DOC Mandorlo; and a Moscato d'Asti DOCG.

• Barolo DOCG Cascina Nuova
• Barolo DOCG Ravera
• Barolo DOCG Ravera Bricco Pernice
• Barolo DOCG Riserva Ravera Vigna Elena
• Barbaresco DOCG Bordini (Neive)
• Langhe Nebbiolo DOC Montegrilli
• Barbera d'Alba DOC Bricco dei Merli and Pre-Phylloxera
• Langhe Nascetta DOC Anas-Cëtta
• Dolcetto d'Alba DOC Mandorlo
• Moscato d'Asti DOCG

Nascetta is a white variety native to the commune of Novello. Cogno made its first limited production in 1994, buying the Nascetta grapes still scattered through older Novello vineyards, and later propagated cuttings to plant four parcels in Ravera. Before the variety gained legal recognition, the wine was labeled with the old local name Anas-Cëtta, which the estate still uses. In 2010 the Langhe DOC created a subcategory for 100 percent Nascetta from Novello, the Langhe DOC Nascetta del Comune di Novello. Today the estate makes about 20,000 bottles from two hectares, fermenting half in stainless steel and half in 15 hectoliter Slavonian oak barrels. Wine Spectator scored Cogno's 2015 and 2016 Nascettas at 90 points, the first Novello Nascettas to reach that mark.

• Native white variety of Novello
• First limited production in 1994
• Langhe DOC Nascetta del Comune di Novello subcategory created in 2010
• About 20,000 bottles from 2 ha

Cogno's own summary of its style is 'Strength, elegance, and noble smoothness,' and its winemaking statement credits the vineyard and cellar methods with wines that show 'an elegant and graceful power, an enveloping smoothness, and an unexpected freshness.' Its range gives each Barolo a role: Cascina Nuova is meant as a more immediate introduction to Barolo, Ravera as 'the classicism of Cogno,' Bricco Pernice as 'the tradition of Cogno' and Vigna Elena as 'the elegance of Cogno.'

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://www.cognowines.com/en/cogno/the-winery/, https://www.cognowines.com/en/history/wine-on-the-horizon/, https://www.cognowines.com/en/history/different-directions/, https://www.cognowines.com/en/history/a-new-beginning/, https://www.cognowines.com/en/history/an-idea-of-wine/, https://www.cognowines.com/en/cogno/productive-spirit/, https://www.cognowines.com/en/our-vineyards/vineyard-management/, https://www.cognowines.com/en/vineyards/ravera/, https://www.cognowines.com/en/vineyards/bricco-pernice/, https://www.cognowines.com/en/vineyards/cascina-nuova/, https://www.cognowines.com/en/vineyards/vigna-elena/, https://www.cognowines.com/en/our-wines/, https://www.cognowines.com/en/wines/barolo-docg-ravera/, https://www.cognowines.com/en/wines/barolo-docg-ravera-bricco-pernice/, https://www.cognowines.com/en/wines/barolo-docg-cascina-nuova/, https://www.cognowines.com/en/wines/barolo-docg-riserva-ravera-vigna-elena/, https://www.cognowines.com/en/wines/langhe-nascetta-doc-anas-cetta/, https://www.cognowines.com/en/wines/barbaresco-docg-bordini/, https://www.cognowines.com/en/wines/barbera-dalba-doc-pre-phylloxera/. Secondary sources: Decanter (James Button, last updated 11 November 2024), https://www.decanter.com/wine/a-drink-with-nadia-cogno-valter-fissore-541426/, and Wine Spectator (Robert Camuto, 1 September 2020), https://www.winespectator.com/articles/a-great-white-barolo-land. Last verified 2026-10-20. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.