One of the legendary winemakers of the world, Bruno Giacosa crafted the most prestigious single-vineyard Barolo and Barbaresco wines during a career that spanned nearly eight decades. Born in Neive in 1929, Bruno spent virtually his entire life in wine, beginning to work in the cellar with his father Mario and grandfather Carlo at the age of thirteen and becoming fully employed in the family business two years later. Giacosa’s unfailing pursuit of perfection, his unrivaled palate and his intimate knowledge of vineyards in the Langhe quickly drew recognition and helped establish Piedmont as a leading wine region. His legacy rests with daughter Bruna, who continues to uphold her father’s winemaking philosophy. 

For many, the red label riserva Barolos and Barbarescos made by Giacosa are the equal of any red wine made in the world. He made them only a few times a decade, and they are not only fantastically complex, rich, powerful wines capable of decades of development; they are also endowed with that rare and magical sense of extra dimension found only in the greatest wines. So high were Bruno Giacosa’s standards that, over the decades, he deemed relatively few wines worthy of wearing the red label. 

Giacosa always preferred to let his wines do the talking. “Winemaking involves a great many small decisions, each affecting the next. One can only hope to get them right, to capture what there was in the grapes to begin with” is what he told Gerald Asher in the early ’90s. Giacosa was somewhat more detailed in describing his approach in later years, yet what he revealed is not substantially different from what other producers do. The key elements in his work were a two- to three-week fermentation in stainless steel at moderate temperatures followed by three to four years aging in French oak botti.