Crivelli Ruche di Castagnole Monferrato Italy 2023

This is a story about an obscure and underappreciated grape, a local priest who preferred his tractor to the pulpit and a headstrong young man who abruptly quit the local Cantina Sociale when they refused to pay him a premium for his top quality grapes.

That young man was Marco Crivelli and the year was 1979 and with the passage of time and experience he became the acknowledged master of that little known local grape, Ruchè. Now his son Jonathan has seamlessly taken over the vineyard and winemaking responsibilities, having learned his craft well from his legendary father who continues to keep an eye on everything.

The Crivelli family has been cultivating vines in the small town of Castagnole Monferrato as long as Italy itself has been a nation. Equidistant from Milan and Genoa, only 32 miles east of Turin and close to the famous wine town of Asti, Castagnole itself is now forever linked to Ruchè and one of only 7 Asti villages producing in total a mere 500,000 bottles a year within the Ruchè DOCG zone.