2020 Cappellano, Barolo, Pie Rupestris

It’s hard to talk about Piedmont without spending significant time on Cappellano. While the winery is historically credited with creating Barolo Chinato, it’s really their uncompromising approach to Barolo that makes them so essential to the region's story.

In 1983, Teobaldo—Augusto’s father—made a move that was unheard of at the time: he effectively banished any journalist from his cellar who wouldn't agree to review his wines without a numerical score. He was a firm believer that reducing a living, breathing work of art to a single number stripped the wine of its identity. That level of integrity is rare, and it defines everything they do.

Teobaldo was also a fierce defender of site integrity. When the DOCG expanded the boundaries of the historic Gabutti vineyard to include what he considered inferior soil, he was so disgusted that he removed the vineyard name from his label entirely. He chose to label the wines simply as 'Piè Rupestris' (grafted) and 'Piè Franco' (ungrafted), preferring to lose the prestige of a 'Cru' name rather than participate in the dilution of his vineyard’s history. When you drink Cappellano, you aren’t just drinking a wine; you’re drinking a statement of pure, unyielding principle. Cappellano produces a very small, limited amount of wine, with the estate generally making fewer than 800 cases (roughly 9,000–9,600 bottles) of Barolo per year.