The Monchiero Carbone farm is located in Canale, in the centre of the village, in a nineteenth century stately farmhouse, which hosts in its basement a large and fascinating historical cellar, untouched for over two centuries.

The company owes its name to the union of two families through the marriage between Marco Monchiero and Lucia Carbone, and the consequent merging of the vineyards inherited from both. The origins and the connections with winemaking are, however, to be found in the past, among the members of the two families.

Clotilde Valente, great-grandmother on the Monchiero line, is the forebearer. She married, at the “mature” age of thirty-one, Giovanni Raimondo, known as Job, who had just returned from America, where he had spent twelve years of his youth making his fortune. The outbreak of the Great War divided them almost immediately, leaving her alone, still without children, to manage their money and their future: in 1918 Clotilde decided to buy the Mombirone vineyard, which she then cultivated throughout her life, resulting in the creation of the family’s historic wine, Barbera d’Alba Monbirone. A small production first sold in bulk and then bottled from the 1961 vintage onwards till today thanks to her grandchildren Giovanni and Marco Monchiero who continued to make it during the 70s and 80s with great passion.

In the early 1900s when great-grandfather Enrico Carbone, known as Ricu, married the young Lucia Gioetti: beautiful, slender she was “the Blonde” by everyone. Lucia, daughter of the wealthy sharecropper of the Count of Canale, brought a considerable dowry and a good amount of money, destined to purchase the land on the Tanon hill (Tanùn), where Ricu immediately wanted to plant a vineyard with Arneis to produce that white wine kept sweet to conform to the taste of the time. The Tanon vineyard would then pass into the hands of his grandfather Francesco Carbone, known as Cecu d’la Biunda, also passionate about Arneis.

This is how the history of the Monchiero Carbone winery began, and thanks to the entrepreneurial Francesco who vinified his first vintage in 1990 with the help of his father Marco: there were only 2000 bottles of Roero Superiore for his thesis, in addition to those of Barbera Monbirone, produced during the two Piedmontese “giornate” (7620 meters), the only handkerchief of land inherited from his grandparents.

In 1994, the Roero Arneis, the native Roero white, came into the range thanks to Francesco’s strong passion, although he was aware of the long road of research and experimentation that he would have had to undertake to bring out an autochthonous grape variety that was still quite unknown. His strong love for this unique terroir will lead him to become the first president of the newborn Consorzio di Tutela del Roero in 2013.

Over the years the company has expanded, thanks to the enlargement of the winemaking cellar in 2004 and the acquisition of new vineyards. These plots have been identified with extreme care, as the land is the first architect of the quality of the wine.

The estate has thus grown, reaching the current 35 hectares (92 Piedmontese “giornate”). Among the most important acquisitions are the Printi vineyard, the Renesio vineyard, on the hill that gave birth to the Arneis grape, and the Genestreto cru, in the municipality of Priocca, a single body of 12 hectares of vineyards, with clayey and magnesium-rich soils really suited for viticulture.

Francesco works with his mother Lucia who has always taken care of the company’s accounts with diligence and precision, and his wife Lucrezia takes care of business relations and the reception in the cellar. The right-hand man is Danilo Gallino, who has been responsible for managing the vineyards since 2003.

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