Castello Di Tassarolo

 

The Tassarolo Castle

The Spinola family has owned the Tassarolo castle since the 14th Century. It was built around a Roman tower built in 250 A.D. and has been enlarged and renovated several times since, particularly during the Renaissance. The slightly separated structure on the lower left is the mint, where the Spinolas minted money until the 17th Century.

In a report commissioned by the Emperor Ferdinad III in 1656 on his imperial fiefs the castle of Tassarolo is mentioned as belonging to Count Filippo Spinola, “…it is a beautiful and strong castle, five miles from Seravalle . It has about eighty hearths (families), but not subordinates . There is good wine, every sort of bread, a good quantity of hay, meat and every kind of cheese…” (from the State Archivas, Vienna).

The Spinola Family

The Spinola family, one of oldest in Europe, dates back to the 8th Century, In terms of importance comparable with the Medici in Florence, it numbers ship-owners, cardinals, doges of the Republic of Genoa, bankers and army generals among its past and present members. Tassarolo Castle rises at the centre of the ancient forts which once defended the large estates belonging to the Spinola family, Spinolino state.

For many centuries as emissaries of the Austrian-Hungarian Emperor the Spinola family used these forts to control the only road between the Republic of Genoa and the European continent. Their economy was based on the tolls raised on the rights of passage. Large sums of money were collected and the Spinola family financed numerous enterprises and expeditions. Christopher Columbus was engaged by the Spinola Company in Lisbon and the Spinola family contributed to half of the costs of his journey to the discovery of America.

 

Vineyards

Biodynamic agriculture

The Winery Estate of Castello di Tassarolo is situated in the comune of Tassarolo in the heart of the Gavi, in Piedmont and consists of 20 Hectars of vineyards that circomnavigate the winery. The variety of vines cultivated on the estate are "Cortese di Gavi", Barbera and some Cabernet Sauvignon. The cultivation of the vineyards is the biodynamic agricultural method that gaurantees the maximum respect for nature and the environment.

The practice of biodynamic principles in agriculture were first developed on the estate of the Count and Countess of Keyserlink by an introductory course held by Rudolf Steiner in 1924, following a request by the local farmers with regards to the deteriorization of product quality and the developing corrosion of the soil, desertification.

Within the course were seminated many of the principles that guide the biodynamic farmer of today, with regards to the "forces of life" and the fertility of the soil, the importance of livestock and deeper insights into the forces and dynamics that nature reveals to the developed and discerining eye.

In 2006 the estate began developing biodynamic methods of viticulture which in practice is based on the development of humus and the health of the vines, by the use of green manure, compost (made at home), and the use of preparations such as the dynamization of cows manure and silica.

 

Winery

Technology and tradition

The winery is the responsibility of our oenologist Vincenzo Munì with the assistance of our cantiniere Miri velli who overlooks the process of vinification to bottling. Vincenzo considers himself to be an assistant of nature.

Of primary importance has always been the production of the highest organolectic quality of wines, of the highest proffesionalism and wines that are a pleasure to drink. The focus being the cultivation of good quality grapes that led to the development of biodynamic agricultural methods, we have a saying “ that good wine is made in the vineyards” before it arrives in the cantina. All the wines are made from grapes cultivated on the estate which surround the cantina allowing the grapes from the harvest to arrive in optimum condition within an hour, avoiding problems of oxidization which further allows us to produce the best non sulphite added wines to be found in Europe today.

In the winery are wed biodynamic culture with modern technology in harmony and allow us to develop the best of quality. After the harvest, manually by using perforated chests to a maximum of 17 kilo’s each, the grape juice is put into stainless steel vats that are temperature controlled that allows us to ferment under strict temperature variations and regularity. The whole process is conducted under the strictest temperature controls and the highest standards of hygene.

One of the factors of most importance in the winery is experimentation because from experimentation one discovers and develops. In fact experimentation allowed us to develop our range of non sulphite wines.