Torraccia del Piantavigna Winery

[TOUR-rah-cee-ah]

Location: Ghemme, Novara. Piedmont, Italy.

Torraccia del Piantavigna was founded in 1997 by Alessandro Francoli. It is located in Ghemme, Piedmont. Today, the Francoli family and the Ponti family own the winery and Mattia Donna and Beppe Caviola act as the winemakers. Torraccia is the only winery to have significant holdings in both Ghemme and Gattinara DOCG.

Points of Differentiation

• A family owned winery, with nearly 100 acres of hand-tended hillside vineyards
• Torraccia del Piantavigna has a responsible attitude towards the local area, the local community and the environment and was honored in 2014, 2017 and 2018 with the prestigious Eco-Friendly award
• Great packaging with a clear family identity and a very distinctive bottle shape, inspired by an original bottle dating from 1904
• The wines have a clean and elegant style partly due to the use of Allier oak casks instead of barrique which allow a long and soft ageing of the wines
• Torraccia is the only winery to have significant holdings in both Ghemme and Gattinara DOCG
• Awarded with Tre Bicchieri Award from Gambero Rosso for the last eleven years in a row

The History

The history of Torraccia del Piantavigna begins in 1977 when Pierino Piantavigna, maternal great grandfather of the current generation of the Francoli family, planted his first vineyard of Nebbiolo in the hills above Ghemme, near the former Cavenago Castle.

In 1997 Alessandro Francoli, president of the Luigi Francoli distillery formally founded Torraccia del Piantavigna. The name of the company was inspired by Pierino’s passion for the vineyards, which were such an important part of his life, and the name of the hillside where he worked, known as “la Torraccia”, in reference to the derelict tower of the castle there. The cellars, which date back to the early 1970s, have recently been expanded to allow the winery to store a total of 678,000 liters.

In 2015, the Francoli family joined forces with the Ponti family, who have been involved with Torraccia from the beginning, to share ownership. Today, the current generation draws inspiration from Pierino, not only by making wines renown for quality and elegance but also their attitude towards the local area, the local community, and the environment. As a reflection of its work in environmental protection, Torraccia del Piantavigna was honored in 2014, 2017 and 2018 with the prestigious Eco-Friendly award from the Touring Club Italiano.

The Terroir

About 290 million years ago, there was an active volcano between the Sesia Valley and the Sessera Valley. Then, about 60 million years ago, when the Alps were created, the overturning of the Earth’s crust in the Sesia Valley enabled the deepest magmatic layer to rise to the surface creating a ‘fossilized super volcano’.

As a result, the alluvial hills on either side of the Sesia are extraordinarily rich in minerals, which the vines draw on to generate quality wines with long aging potential.

Favored by the Nebbiolo grape, the continental climate is mitigated by the cool currents of air that flow down from Monte Rosa.  The Nebbiolo grape is considered Italy’s most outstanding and unique grape variety because it “breathes the mist” of autumn.

Torraccia del Piantavigna has vineyards in both Ghemme and Gattinara, the two D.O.C.G. areas within the D.O.C. areas of the Colline Novaresi and Vercelli in Northern Piemonte.  The soil is of fluvial and alluvial origin, from the glacial river which ran down from Monte Rosa. It is heavy with clay content and relatively acidic. Most importantly, cool air flows down from the mountains, providing large thermal differences between night and day, helping to create the aromas in the grapes.