Valli Unite

Valli Unite is an agricultural cooperative founded in the 1970s by Ottavio Rube, Enrico Boveri, and Cesare Berutti. Its mission is to foster a lifestyle in harmony with nature, with a focus on healthy food, the place where people live, and the people who inhabit this land.

It was born from the desire of the three founders to subvert the system that at that time put social pressure on people to leave their land uncultivated, from the desire to redeem peasant pride through work, discussion and sharing.
The cooperative has grown exponentially over time: by always keeping the door open, the group has grown and today we are about forty people who share a vision and values.

We produce wine, flour, honey, and vegetables, cultivating over 100 hectares organically ; we also process beef and pork. From the very beginning, we've considered livestock farming essential to our cooperative's efforts to create a closed-loop agro-ecological system, in line with the need to foster biodiversity and synergy between the various internal processes. You can find all our products at our on-site shop and in our restaurant , where you can also sample our wines through guided tastings that will lead you on a tour of the vineyards and cellar!

You can also stay with us, immersed in the nature of the Tortona Hills, sleeping in a farm campsite or in one of our eco-sustainable apartments converted from an old Piedmontese farmhouse.
Even the youngest visitors have the opportunity to experience the rural world thanks to a dedicated outdoor area, nature walks, and educational workshops. Valli Unite is a free space, open to anyone who wants to learn about the various agricultural, livestock, and processing activities, or even just participate in our most anticipated events : Liberation Day and the Harvest Festival!

For us, wine is a means of reaching people's homes, tables, and hearts, a way to convey our philosophy. For this reason, in 2009, we stopped adding unnecessary substances, even when permitted by organic certification, and we do not use invasive techniques such as sterile filtration, fining, or selected yeasts.

We are committed to avoiding energy waste by using natural sources such as photovoltaic panels to power the winery machinery, and the water used for washing is reused, after settling in tanks, to irrigate the vegetable garden and treat the vineyard. Furthermore, our warehouse is built using green building techniques , using raw earth from excavations and straw from our fields: the natural insulation provided by these materials allows us to maintain optimal temperatures for storing our wines without resorting to energy-intensive air conditioning.

Vineyard treatments are natural and limited to the use of copper, sulfur, orange extracts, and propolis from our bees to treat wounds caused by hail. To minimize the main vine diseases, we are committed to using only physical techniques, such as removing infected areas. We have five meteorological stations provided by the municipality for constant monitoring of the vineyards. This allows us to measure humidity and temperature and determine the presence of fungi and insects. This allows us to know the exact time to intervene, avoiding waste and unnecessary treatments.

All our processes are natural and respect the rhythms of the lunar calendar and the life cycle of the plant, ensuring the care of the soil, respect for the local biodiversity, and the production of a more authentic wine. Manual, non-mechanized work allows us to preserve the quality of the raw materials and stay in touch with nature.

The varietals we use are all native and deeply rooted in local tradition, such as Timorasso, Dolcetto, Barbera, Croatina, Cortese, and Favorita . Unique and characteristic of our region is Timorasso, a grape variety cultivated since the Middle Ages but abandoned after the Second World War due to its low resistance to adversity. Its rediscovery occurred around the 2000s thanks to the insight of some local producers who decided to replant this ancient variety. The result is a versatile, structured wine, unique in its ability to age both in the bottle and in the cellar, like a red wine. We produce four styles: Derthona base, Derthona macerated, Derthona riserva, and Derthona spumante di montagna.