Cantina Rizzi
A winery where the artistic dimension of wine makes sense
Rizzi is a family estate founded in 1974 by the Dallapiana family. It extends over forty hectares with 27 around the property, on the Rizzi Cru. Add to these 4 hectares on Nervo, 3 hectares on Pajore, 4 hectares in Neive and 5 hectares on Nevigne. It is currently managed by Ernesto Dellapiana (the father) and his children Jole and Enrico… Let’s go together to meet Enrico Dallapiana.
Enrico Dallapiana: These lands have been owned by the family since the end of the 19th century. At the end of the Second World War my grandfather and my father went to live and work in Turin where they created an envelope factory. My father lived in town for many years but in 1974 he decided to change his life and return to family lands. He said he wanted to work in the vineyard, outdoors. So he changed his life radically, sold everything and came back here. He created the cellar and did a lot of grubbing and replanting work. All these friends and family said he was crazy because at the time it was a change of life that was very rare and misunderstood. At the time he was told ‘Why do you want to be a peasant?’ While today we would answer ‘It’s great, you want to become a winemaker!’… In this sense he was avant-garde. In the early 2000s my sister (Jole) and I returned to the property to work with him. My father has remained very dynamic, even at 78 years old he continues to work, to make plans to buy vineyards, machinery…
Where does the name of the ”Rizzi” property come from?
E.D.: Rizzi is the toponym of the region. The probable origin is the Piedmontese word ‘richo’ which means the hedgehog. The hill was said to be rich in hedgehogs… Rizzi is not a Monopole because it is big enough. We share this wine with other local producers.
Why did you choose to become a winemaker?
E.D.: I make wine because it’s something that’s in me, part of my story, my DNA. Basically I studied science and history. I then went to Dijon (France) to get a master’s degree in history. That’s where I discovered Burgundy and fell in love with it. After that I made the choice to do a master’s degree in viticulture / oenology. So why make wine? I also have a great passion for art, for architecture. Wine brings together these three passions: history, art and architecture by some aspects. Producing wine is something artistic, artisanal and appealing to the sensitivity of man. Wine is also an art form because there is no magic formula for making wine but every year it is difficult, it is different, every year it is a different interpretation. One year it’s hot so you have to respect a little the characteristic of the vintage so you have to do a different job in the vineyard, vinification but also aging. It’s never the same recipe! For me it is the most beautiful work in the world because wine is a product that gives pleasure, friendliness, which is shared with family or friends… It’s fabulous!
I was born here, on the family property. Throughout my childhood I saw the passion that my father had for me to produce the wines of the family. He passed on this passion to me… Even when I started my history studies, I knew deep down that I would have to take oenology courses to do what I love. I always had this idea in mind, this desire to become a winemaker because I saw all the potentiality of this work. What is beautiful in this work, in addition to combining history and art is that you can do everything, you must be versatile. You have to work in the vineyard, in the winery, you have to market, travel, take care of communication… meet people. I have also combined wine and art through some of my labels. To summarize I would say that my passion has become my job and that my work is my passion!
What is the signature of Rizzi wines? What makes it possible to recognize them in blind tasting?
E.D.: It’s something pretty easy, I recognize almost every time because I have a style apart, a real signature. If I had to summarize I would say that they have finesse, sense of terroir, verticality and elegance. They offer a subtle acidity, and they always have a nice tension. These are always very very clean, clean and precise wines.
What I like is to keep the typicality of each terroir. It is much more complicated to make wines that retain their terroir identities than to make wines that are too concentrated, too structured and too ”rich” (in the sense that fill the mouth). It is necessary that one can recognize the vintage, the soil! For example, the wines of Cru Pajoré are a little more balsamic, a little more spicy and a little more silky than others. Nervo’s wines are more ”nervous / energetic”, a little more vertical. They will not be very rich wines, very voluminous but they will have a very beautiful persistence. Le Cru Rizzi, thanks to the different altitudes, will be a small mixture of these two wines. However they will need to age a little more before being opened. The Boito, given its altitude, produces wines that are the most structured, the most powerful and will require the most patience before being opened. For example, we are currently selling 2013. We only sell a wine when it is ready to drink. That’s my idea of wine and my style… I also have the chance to work on Barbaresco which is a wonderful variety. We also work the Nebbiolo but on soils that give wines that are not opulent but fine and elegant. They are located on the Treiso Cru. They are planted on a sandy part (which gives the verticality) and altitude (which allows us to have a nice acidity).
Do you have an anecdote about Cantina Rizzi?
E.D.: Yes, it concerns one of my wines. I love to paint. It’s one of my hobbies. A few years ago I started to make myself the label of my cuvée ”La Riserva”. Each year I make a different watercolor to illustrate the bottles. For 0.75cl bottles I scan and print the labels but for the magnums (200 per year) I make them all by hand. I really like doing that! This is something incredible for me because I can link wine and art even more closely.