Crealto
Piemonte, Monferrato, Italy
 

Crealto began in 2008, when four friends in their twenties and thirties left the city behind for a hilltop corner of the Monferrato, chasing a shared passion for nature and wine.
 

Eleonora and Luigi, a couple who'd been living in Genoa, took on the winemaking, with Luigi at the helm in the cellar, while their friends Elisa and Andrea took charge of the farmhouse kitchen, turning the project into an agriturismo as much as a winery. They're based in Alfiano Natta, inside the Parco delle Ex Cave di Cardona, on UNESCO-listed Monferrato hillside.
 

The estate covers around 5 hectares at 350 metres, with vines up to 60 years old, mostly Grignolino, along with Barbera, Nebbiolo and a little Chardonnay. Certified organic since 2013 and moving further into biodynamics, they use green manure and Preparation 500 to build soil fertility, and rely only on copper, sulphur and plant based treatments like mustard and natural pyrethrum to protect the vines. They've also begun reviving Baratacuiat, a nearly forgotten local variety, to help keep the area's biodiversity alive.
 

In the cellar it's much the same philosophy: spontaneous fermentation with wild yeasts, minimal sulphur, no fining and very little filtration, aged across steel, wood and, for the Barbera, experiments with terracotta amphorae.