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About the producer
Francesco Versio is the son of a teacher from the hamlet of Albesani, near to the Barbaresco village of Neive. Young Francesco Versio graduated in 2005 from Alba’s Umberto One wine school and then in 2009 from Turin University, specialising in Viticulture and Viniculture. He worked briefly at the cooperative Terre di Barolo before joining Bruno Giacosa first as a cellar hand and then as their oenologist in June 2011.
His family own a tiny property of two small plots of old vines in the commune of Neive: one in the vineyards in San Cristoforo, planted in 1969, the other, Currà, even older, lies below San Cristoforo. Both face south-west and overlook the village of Barbaresco and were rented out until 2012. The terrain of San Cristoforo is calcareous, giving freshness and perfume. That of Currà is more sandy, imparting a warm softness to the wine.
In 2013, Francesco made only 20hl (2,600 bottles) of his first Barbaresco from their two vineyards, at a yield of circa 30hl/ha, in the basement cellar of this parents’ house. He spent his earnings on a new temperature-controlled stainless-steel tank – the controlling element to be used only in emergency - as well as a large Stockinger botte.
In 2014, he replanted the Currà vineyard with 60% Lampia, 30% Michet & 10% Picotener and from vintage 2016, Francesco has bought fruit from a nearby Neive vineyard, Tetti.
Vineyard
Two tiny plots of vines, over 50-years-old. San Cristoforo is up the hillside from Currà and has more limestone in the soil than the sandier Currà giving two very different expressions of Barbaresco.
Winery
Vinification is traditional, with long macerations on the skins, when the vintage allows, with the wines always being bottled with approximately 25mg of free sulphur.