La Storia di Ca’ Del Baio

First, the name. Ca’ Del Baio.

Short for Casa del Baio which is Piemontese for ‘House of the Bay’. Bay is the Piemontese word for a dark colored horse. This explains the horse in the Ca’ Del Baio logo.

Cascina Vallegrande

The Cascina Vallegrande farmhouse and land (now Ca’ Del Baio house and winery) was purchased in 1870 by Giulio’s great grandfather Giuseppe Grasso. In addition to the original land which was in Treiso, additional land was accrued (most notably vineyards in Asili in Barbaresco) over time as members of the family married other Barbaresco locals.

Ca’ Del Baio is currently owned by Giulio and Luciana and run (mostly) by their daughters Paola, Valentina and Federica. As it should be. After working for many years, the parents get to relax a bit more as their children take over. And, who wouldn’t want to stay and run the family Estate in a prestigious region such as Barbaresco?

But that wasn’t the case for past generations in Piemonte. Staying in the hills and in the small villages of Barolo and Barbaresco wasn’t seen as viable or smart. If you wanted a job or to support your family, you went to the city. People didn’t have much money and very few young people stayed behind to run farms or vineyards. Giulio Grasso was born in 1959 and when, as a young adult he decided to stay in Treiso, he was one of only two of the young men in the village to do so.

Times have changed.

The ascent of Piemonte’s wines

Piemonte’s modern day prosperity and the revival of the status and recognition of its wines is something relatively recent. The wines only began to reclaim (after many decades of dormant vines and no high quality wine production and hardly any commercial production) international recognition and popularity in the 80s and later gain commercial status in the 90s. For many smaller wineries (such as Ca’ del Baio) this change and growth in the global demand for Piemonte wines didn’t reach them until even more recently, over the past twenty years. In the 90s it was mostly the big names and important producers that got all of the recognition and therefore the distribution and sales.

The Journey to Ca’ Del Baio

So what happened after Giulio, one of only two young guys who decided stayed in the Treiso hills to run his family’s estate, started running Cascina Vallegrande? He continued to make (as they had since 1950) small quantities of wine (from their Treiso vineyards) under the Cascina delle Grande label until 1987. After that point (due to a variety of factors having to do with some land and fruit that had been added to the family vineyards through marriage but had been being sold to other local producers) he began making wine under the Ca’ del Baio label. Ca’ del Baio was the name Giulio and his wife had chosen for their new home, which was built to replace (and in the same place as) the old Cascina Vallegrande farmhouse.

Ca’ Del Baio Vineyards & Production

The Grasso family owns and farms a total of 28 hectares or approximately 69 acres. The vineyards are spread between Treiso and Barbaresco (both villages are within the Barbaresco region). The winery is located in the village of Asili (between Treiso and Barbaresco).

They make their wines with 100% estate grown fruit and though the star of the show is Nebbiolo they also (as is typical) grow Dolcetto and Barbera as well as (less typically but not uncommonly) small amounts of Moscato and Chardonnay.

Chardonnay? In Piemonte? It’s not as rare as it might assume. There are a handful of producers that grow and produce small amounts of Chardonnay in Piemonte. Among them are the historically renowned Barolo, Barbaresco and Barbera producers Angelo Gaja, Pio Boffa (Pio Cesare) and Luigi Coppo (Coppo) who planted their Chardonnay circa 1980.

However, Chardonnay is typically made in very small amounts and is not the focus of a winery. So it is at Ca Del Baio, where Nebbiolo and, more specifically vineyard designate Barbaresco is where most of the winery’s attention is directed.

Their best vines go into making their estate cru Barbaresco’s from their Asili, Pora, Vallegrande and Marcarini vineyards. The vines for these wines are between 25-40 years old.

The Wines

I tasted the entire lineup of wines at Ca’ del Baio including the whites but I will list only the most important wines (based on what I am looking for when tasting wines in Piemonte).

Langhe Nebbiolo

A light fresh, lively Nebbiolo. Unoaked. Easy to drink and easy on your wallet. A steal at nine Euros (winery price) but even in the U.S market (if you can find it) the price would be a reasonable 9-10 USD/glass in a restaurant or 9-12 USD/bottle retail. Though it will be tough to find retail. I have listed the importer details at end of this post.

Langhe Nebbiolo ‘BricdelBaio‘

Slightly more voluptuous and with more palpable tannin yet still bright and fresh (with some tart jam and juicy rasberry notes typical of Nebbiolos that have undergone a brief carbonic maceration) and clean. Aged 12 months in neutral oak casks.

Barbera D’Alba Paolina

Made from fruit that comes from a few different Ca’ Del Baio Treiso vineyards with average vine age of around sixty years this vibrant wine has the layers of concentrated flavors typical of a barbera from older vines. Bright red-purple color and red fruit on palate. Acidity in balance with the fruit and barely there tannins. Silky edges. Aged 12 months in neutral oak casks.

Barbaresco Vallegrande

100% sourced from the Valgrande cru vineyards that surround the estate. The vineyards are in the village of Treiso and face west. Vines are around fifty years old. This Barbaresco is aged for thirty months in large mostly neutral Slavonian oak casks (versus small new oak casks) to preserve the character of the Nebbiolo and maintain elegance. Using Slavonian oak casks is common among producers of Barbaresco and Barolo who are in pursuit of elegance over muscle and balance over power or more tannin.

I got more baking spices and undertones of earth in this Barbaresco than the others I tasted on this trip. Dried flowers, baking spices (such as Bay) and dusty earth.

Barbaresco Asili

Twenty to sixty year old vines from Asili vineyards in the village of Barbaresco. The vineyards face south-west. This wine undergoes a longer and slower on-skin fermentation followed by two years of aging in large Slavonian oak casks and six months of aging in the bottle before release.

The Asili has a more delicate flavor profile than the Vallegrande-I got more floral and bright red fruit notes and none of the earthiness or dried herbs of the Vallegrande. Because this vineyard produces Barbaresco with a slightly more delicate profile it makes sense to choose to do a longer and slower fermentation and keep the Asili for a bit less time in oak than the Vallegrande.

Where You Can Get the Wines

The wines are not widely available as the winery isn’t huge and they sell wines to quite a few European countries as well as the U.S so this means that a little bit goes to each market. In California the wines are imported and distributed by Caroline Debbanè. In New York they are distributed by Omniwines.

In the U.K the wines are imported and distributed by Eurowines.

As is the case with most small winery/small importer distribution situation, it’s impossible to have a list of where the wines can be bought unless you directly contact the importer and ask where the wines are available currently.

Tip: If you go to a shop where the importer tells you you can buy the wines and they don’t have any in stock, you can do both the winery and the importer a favor by asking the shop to order more.