Collection: Daniele Ricci - Piedmont

In 2021 I had the pleasure to visit one of our winemakers in Campania: Raffaele - the one-man behind the amazing Vadiaperti -. After taking a walk throughout his breathtaking vineyards, with the excitement of a child who finally put his hands on a very popular toy, he tells me "wait me here, Luca, wait me here" and disappears in the cellar. 

After few minutes he comes back with 2 glasses filled with a very strange juice (strange because I know his wines and that didn't really look like any of them). I try the wine and there we go, I was bowled over. So I asked him to go and take the bottle and he comes out with a big smile showing me the San Leto 2014, the unmistakable blue label of Daniele Ricci, a producer of Timorasso nearby Tortona -a town in Piedmont boarding with Lombardy-. 

So that was my first encounter with Daniele Ricci; what a way.

Before that day I heard about Daniele as you read and hear about the ancient greek stories: a blend between myth and reality. Luckily Cascina San Leto is a real place. It is located among the Tortona hills in Costa Vescovato in the province of Alessandria (please see the map above). Here Daniele together with his son Mattia, cultivates about 8 hectares of the local grapes: Croatina, Barbera, Nebbiolo, and of course Timorasso. Vineyards who inherited from his grandparents who planted the vines in the '20s. 

Daniele Ricci is also part myth. First of all cause he really doesn't exist online. He doesn't have a website, you need to get his number from someone. But most importantly, because he is the man who first had a vision many years ago. A man who believed in the unexpressed potential of a place to be exploited and then bet on himself, leaving a secure salary to throw himself "body and soul" into an adventure with uncertain outcomes. He said he felt "Come un Cane in Chiesa" (like a dog in Church - that's why the name C.C.C. to his wine) when he started making wine. After years of sacrifices, the gamble has proved successful, its wines are appreciated by an increasingly vast public. The watchword is experimentation, but with knowledge of the facts. Nothing is left to chance.

Daniele loves to talk about agriculture and sustainability more than about his wines, he thinks that with calm and determination that it is possible to produce wine without the use of selected yeasts in the cellar and without resorting to chemicals in the vineyard, first of all to safeguard its health and that of his family.

The big change takes place in the cellar, with its long macerations on the skins, spontaneous fermentations and the use of acacia barrels and amphorae that results in complex wines with great aromas and structured on the palate.
The continuous desire to improve and the ability to know-how to wait for his wines make this vigneron one of the most considered producers not just in the Colli Tortonesi area, but in the entire country. 

Salute!