Poderi Marcarini

Marcarini's history begins in the mid-1800s, when Giuseppe Tarditi established a small farming estate in La Morra. The Marcarini name entered the family through marriage in the late 19th century, and the estate has remained in unbroken family hands across six generations. The crucial modern inflection point came in 1950, when Marcarini became one of the very first producers in the Barolo zone to designate single vineyards on its wine labels. The two contiguous crus that anchored that decision, Brunate and La Serra, remain the estate's flagship sites today. In 1990, Luisa Bava, a Marcarini granddaughter through her mother Anna's marriage to the lawyer Giovanni Bava, took over the family estate and oversaw its modernization across three decades. The estate is now run by her widower Manuel Marchetti and their three children Andrea, Elisa, and Chiara.

• Estate roots in La Morra trace to the mid-1800s under Giuseppe Tarditi; family name Marcarini entered the lineage through marriage in the late 19th century
• Among the first Barolo producers to label by single vineyard, with Brunate and La Serra named on the bottle from the early 1950s
• 1990: Luisa Bava, Marcarini granddaughter through Anna Marcarini and Giovanni Bava, inherited the estate and led its modern era
• Current generation: Manuel Marchetti and his three children Andrea, Elisa, and Chiara, representing the sixth generation in direct family lineage

Marcarini's reputation outside Italy was largely built during the partnership with Elvio Cogno, who joined the estate as enologist in the 1960s and stayed for nearly three decades before founding his own house in Novello. The first Marcarini-Cogno Barolo was the 1961 vintage, and in 1964 Cogno took the unusual step, then nearly unheard of in Barolo, of placing the specific vineyard name on the label rather than just the village or appellation. The Marcarini Brunate and La Serra of that era helped establish the principle that has since reshaped the entire Barolo classification, codified four decades later in the official MGA system. Cogno departed in the early 1990s to launch the estate that bears his name, but the framework he built with Marcarini, single-cru transparency, traditional aging in large oak, and a focus on aromatic clarity, continues to define the wines.

• Elvio Cogno joined Marcarini as enologist in the 1960s; first Marcarini-Cogno Barolo was the 1961 vintage
• 1964: Cogno added the vineyard name to the label, an early and influential move that anticipated the modern Barolo MGA system established in 2010
• Cogno departed in the early 1990s to found Elvio Cogno in Novello; the Marcarini single-vineyard framework remained in place under successor winemakers
• The Cogno-Marcarini Barolos of the 1960s and 1970s are now considered historic reference bottles for La Morra's Brunate cru

Marcarini's holdings cover roughly 25 hectares of vineyards across the Langhe and Roero, with the most important parcels concentrated in two contiguous crus on the eastern slopes of La Morra. Brunate, a 4.5-hectare parcel established as a vineyard as far back as the 14th century, sits at the cru's high heart and produces a wine of clear floral perfume and mid-weight structure. La Serra, the estate's 4-hectare neighboring parcel, gives a slightly fresher, more red-fruited expression with bright acidity and finer tannins. Beyond Barolo, the most distinctive site in the portfolio is Boschi di Berri, a 0.5-hectare Dolcetto vineyard planted in the late 19th century on sandy soils that protected the vines from the phylloxera devastation that swept Europe; it remains one of the few pre-phylloxera commercial vineyards still in production in the Langhe.

• Brunate: 4.5-hectare parcel in La Morra, with vineyard records dating to the 14th century; classical La Morra style of perfume and balance
• La Serra: 4-hectare contiguous cru producing a fresher, more red-fruited expression with bright acidity
• Boschi di Berri: 0.5-hectare pre-phylloxera Dolcetto vineyard from the late 19th century, planted on sandy soils that protected the vines from the louse
• Additional holdings outside La Morra include parcels in Neviglie and Montaldo Roero, supporting the Barbera, Dolcetto, and white wine range

Marcarini's wines have always sat firmly in the traditionalist camp of La Morra: large Slavonian oak botti for the Barolos, indigenous yeasts, and an emphasis on aromatic clarity rather than extraction or oak influence. La Morra Nebbiolo at its best is a study in perfume and finesse, and the Marcarini house style leans into that village identity rather than chasing structure. The result is a pair of single-cru Barolos that present as classical, restrained, and built for slow evolution in bottle, alongside an entry-level Barolo, a Barbera d'Alba, an Arneis, and the cult Boschi di Berri Dolcetto. The estate has never chased modernist polish, and the wines today are recognizably descended from the Cogno-era Brunate that helped establish single-cru Barolo as a category.

• Barolos aged in large Slavonian oak botti following Piedmontese tradition; no use of barrique on the top wines
• Indigenous-yeast fermentations and long but controlled macerations; the focus is aromatic precision rather than extraction or color
• Stylistic identity reflects La Morra's village character: perfume, finesse, and mid-weight structure rather than power
• Range extends to Barbera d'Alba, Dolcetto d'Alba (including Boschi di Berri), Arneis, and entry-level Barolo alongside the single-cru flagships

Marcarini occupies a foundational place in the modern history of Barolo. The decision in 1950 to label by single vineyard, followed by Cogno's 1964 addition of the cru name to the bottle, helped establish the conceptual framework that became the official Barolo MGA system in 2010. For students of the Langhe, the estate is also one of the cleanest reference points for La Morra's village identity, perfumed, mid-weight, classically structured Nebbiolo, expressed across two contiguous crus that together cover most of what makes the eastern slopes of La Morra distinctive. Boschi di Berri adds a separate kind of significance: one of the few pre-phylloxera commercial vineyards left in Europe, producing a Dolcetto whose existence is itself a small monument to the resilience of sandy-soil viticulture.

• Pioneer of single-vineyard Barolo labeling, anticipating the formal MGA system by six decades
• Brunate and La Serra together provide one of the cleanest comparative studies of contiguous La Morra crus on the market
• Boschi di Berri is one of the few remaining pre-phylloxera commercial vineyards in the Langhe and a reference Dolcetto
• The continued family management across six generations is itself unusual in a region where many historic estates have been bought by larger groups