Born in 1858 from the love story between the King of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele II, and Rosa Vercellana. We have always been a community, united by respect for the land, and today we have 120 hectares of ORGANIC crops that frame Italy’s first Storytelling Village.
We have 120 hectares of land, divided between the municipalities of Serralunga d’Alba, Barolo, Diano d’Alba, Dogliani, Farigliano, Alba and Rodello, at altitudes ranging between 250 and 420 metres above sea level, cultivated with Nebbiolo, Barbera, Dolcetto, Nascetta, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Moscato, which represent the starting point for the remarkable quality of our wines.
The climate is typically continental, but with considerable variability in terms of rainfall and temperature, resulting in an extraordinary diversity of harvests.
The richness of our soils is due to their mainly calcareous composition with different textures even just a few metres apart, ranging from looser soils, with as much as 50% sand, such as those at the farthest end of Serralunga d’Alba and Barolo, to more loamy and clayey soils, like those in the highest area of Serralunga.
Our vines are old, having been planted between 1940 and 1999, and this allows us to have significant root depths that reward the qualitative diversity of each individual M.G.A.. When replacing vines or replanting our vineyards we use our own massal selections in order to maintain the same genetic material that has always distinguished Fontanafredda. And we experiment on small plots with new planting layouts or grafting systems that favour clean agriculture.
We are among the last producers to have maintained extensive woods in the Bassa Langa region, with a woodland area of 12 hectares. This helps us to increase the plant and animal biodiversity that facilitates our ORGANIC farming, launched in 2015 and certified in 2018. No herbicides, no pesticides, no synthetic fertilisers.
Practising organic farming stimulates the symbiotic relationship between vineyards and woods, with their respective wild flora and fauna. By keeping the pedological characteristics of our soils intact, we increase the development of the micro-organisms that determine the amount of organic matter in our soils for the enrichment of biodiversity.
We see organic farming not merely as a form of agriculture but as a way of life, which involves identifying with the plant as a living being and eliminating all unnecessary chemicals.
Reviews:
On the savory side, this red opens with freshly mowed grass, hay and eucalyptus aromas before revealing cherry, strawberry, rose and mineral flavors. Fleshy, with a matrix of dense tannins flexing their muscles on the finish. Shows excellent potential. Best from 2023 through 2042.
-Wine Spectator 96 Points
Floral and red fruit nose. Supple attack, very polished and concentrated, with fine-grained tannins and ample acidity. This has a linear drive, precision. and a very long finish. The rewards will be substantial for the patient consumer.
-Decanter 97 Points
Double Diamond by Schrader Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon is made from 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon.
The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon stands to outshine the award-winning 2019 vintage with even deeper concentration and complexity. On the nose, the wine leaps from the glass with ripe blackberry, cassis, black cherry, and red plum, with a lovely herbaceous undertone. The palate expresses juicy red and black fruits with hints of black tea, damp earth, vanilla bean, lavender, and just a touch of flint. With fine-grained tannins and mouthwatering acidity that lingers through the long finish, this wine is ready to drink upon release but will cellar well for years to come.
Double Diamond is sourced exclusively from a complement of prime vineyard estates. Sourced from the same famed vineyards as its beloved inspiration Schrader Cellars in Napa Valley’s world-renowned Oakville AVA, including our To Kalon Vineyard.
Review:
The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon is cut from the same cloth, with plenty of richness and depth, yet it stays slightly more focused and tight on the palate, with medium to full-bodied richness as well as beautiful darker currant, cassis, darker chocolate, graphite, and hints of flowers. It's concentrated and has beautiful mid-palate density, ripe yet building tannins, and a great finish. It's another undeniably delicious, hard-to-resist Cabernet Sauvignon from the talents of winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown. Give bottles a decant if drinking any time soon and enjoy over the coming 10-12+ years.
-Jeb Dunnuck 94 Points
For many wine lovers or consumers, wine tasting is the preserve of professionals or real connoisseurs. People still have this image of it being a complex, technical, precise and highly-formalised process. In fact, wine tasting isn’t and shouldn’t be just that. No, it should be straightforward, convivial, interesting and fun. Tasting a wine should provoke curiosity, excitement, pleasure and dreams…
When you taste a Château du Retout wine, you use all five of your senses: the sense of touch when you pick up the bottle to gauge its temperature, the sense of hearing which allows you to enjoy the sound of he popping of the cork and the wine being poured into the glass, and then, of course, you use your senses of sight, smell and taste when you drink the wine:
The Médoc grape varieties and soils give us wines with superb, dense, dark hues, ranging from deep garnet to ruby-crimson, taking on brick red shades with orange tints with age.
Very intense and expressive aromas with powerful notes of black fruit such as blackcurrants and blackberries. In older wines, the nose develops a spicy bouquet of liquorice, leather and marshmallow mingled with the vanilla scents created by well-integrated oak.
Harmonious, elegant and velvety, with smooth, round tannins, that can be appreciated from the wine's entry to the palate through to the finish. These are delightfully full-bodied wines with great aromatic persistence.
Review:
"Shows the ripeness of the vintage, with dark currant and blackberry framed by singed cedar and vanilla. Ends with a tug of warm earth, a light twang of iron and a steady grip. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Drink now through 2034."
- Wine Spectator (TOP 100 wines of 2024), 92 pts and #45 on Top100