Gianmarco Ghisolfi never wanted to make wine.

Graduating as an oenologist in 1986 — the year of the methanol scandal, when the entire profession was viewed with suspicion — he looked for work everywhere, without success. He ended up landing a job at a cooperative winery in Abruzzo. Then an opportunity arose: Sicily.

His suitcase was packed.

He announced it to his father. This father who, in 1988, had transformed a family farm — until then focused on fruit and livestock — to dedicate it entirely to bottled wine, under the name Tenuta Ghisolfi.

His father did not take it well.

“I’m breaking my back here, and you’re leaving?”

Gianmarco packed his suitcase. But instead of heading south, he went back home, to Monforte d’Alba.

He is the fifth generation of a family that arrived here in 1884, when his great-great-grandfather left Dogliani to buy this land. At the time, this entire hillside was planted with fruit trees. Today, there are eight hectares of vineyards, all on the same hill — Bricco Visette — which also gives its name to their most important Barolo.

The cellar…

The turning point came from elsewhere, and by chance. A Swiss sommelier, now their importer, was tasting hundreds of wines blind for his reviews. Their Barolo Bricco Visette was selected among the best. Overnight, customers started arriving at the winery without even having tasted it — purely on the strength of an article.

The place where Barolo is born

Today, it is Davide, his son, who is learning by his side — just as he learned from his father. Davide tasted his first wine at 10 or 12 years old. It was even he who, at 13, came up with the idea for a traditional method sparkling wine — after tasting a Franciacorta during a tasting with his father.

“Do you think you’ll still be doing this in fifty years?” he was asked.

“I hope so.”