Luca Ferrero might have been destined to be a winemaker. He inherited his passion for viticulture and wine from his grandfather, Giorgio Ferrero, one of the very first winemakers in Italy to obtain organic certification for his family farm in Pino d’Asti (Turin) in 1986.
When Giorgio took over the winery, he choose to bottle his wines under the name Ca’ del Prete (Priest’s house) inspired by the fact that his farmstead, was once connected to the church where his family has been producing wines for four generations. He uses mainly Freisa, the typical red grape of this hilly area, although within his 4 hectares of vineyards, he also has some plots of Barbera and an ancient variety of Malvasia.
The soil on the farm is characterised by it’s fossils, limestone, sand, silt and clay which are old souvenirs from the distant past, when it used to be a seabed. The microclimate found here is also mild in winter and windy in summer, which is perfect for both Freisa vines and olives trees.
In 2014, Luca began implementing new methods both in the vineyard and in the cellar. Inspired by his previous experiences and the exchanges with colleagues he decided to keep a constant presence of wild herbs, aromatic plants, and flowers, as well as worms, birds, and insects that all live symbiotically in the vineyard ecosystem helping create biodiversity.
Luca has also, sadly, been forced to adapt to climate change and droughts, which have made him completely change his timings in the vineyard each year. Pruning, harvesting and soil work have all changed over the years. It continues to be a challenge that he expects will becoming more demanding in the future.
His wines are produced with minimal use of technology, without any chemicals, and with only small additions of sulfur at bottling. His goal is to introduce more people to the grape variety Freisa. Luca describes his vines as a rebellious 16-year-old with creativity, and a desire to discover the world. They just needs places and people ready to taste. We highly recommend that you do!
