Gramolere

Gramolere is a southwest-facing MGA in Monforte d’Alba, at 330–390 metres on Helvetian sandstone and clay soils — the compact, nutrient-poor geology that gives Monforte its capacity for producing Barolo of muscular structure and mineral intensity. The site is associated particularly with Giovanni Manzone, whose family estate has long worked Gramolere as a primary single-vineyard expression, delivering Barolo of consistent quality and genuine site-specificity year after year.

The wines from Gramolere carry the Monforte typicity with confidence: dark cherry, iron, liquorice, dried rose, and Mediterranean herb on the nose, followed by a palate of dense, structured tannins and high, food-friendly acidity. The Helvetian soils drain rapidly and stress the vines into producing concentrated, flavour-intense must, while the southwest aspect ensures full phenolic maturity despite Monforte’s considerable elevation. Gramolere requires patience — eight to ten years of bottle aging at minimum — but rewards it with wines of genuine complexity and longevity, building layers of truffle, leather, and mineral earth with time. It is a site that exemplifies everything Monforte does best: structure, minerality, and the quiet authority of high-altitude viticulture.