From our Importer: Cascina Val Del Prete has the distinction of being our first Roero based partner and one of the first growers in our portfolio. In 2019, a friend and mentor in the industry told me to go knock on their door and to talk to Nino Roagna - the young son of the family who was starting to run the show.

I was told that Nino not only made true terroir driven wines, but that he was part of a small group of young people working to separate Roero from Barolo and Barbaresco and to bring back its historical reputation. The reality is that Roero is one of the few global regions with the historical record needed to map out a quality hierarchy of vineyards, as was done with recent MGA classifications. This is something to preserve and to defend.

During my visit, we tasted a bottle of 2016 Roero Riserva, from the top slope of the Vigna di Lino vineyard - an amphitheater within the Madonna della Grazie MGA. It was the first Roero wine I experienced that was truly emotional and that I recognized as equal, yet independent, from Barolo and Barbaresco. In 2023, I was fortunate to taste the 2008 Roero Riserva, which is one of the finest bottles of Nebbiolo that I’ve ever had, and I regularly buy Barolo from the greats. 2008 was also Nino’s first year working with his father - he recalled nearly constant rain and cold weather, being amazed at just how fine the wines had become.


What I eventually learned was that Cascina Val Del Prete has long been considered a top tier grower of Roero, and are one of the few to have farmed organically for decades.

Twenty or thirty years ago it wasn’t cool to be a farmer, especially in a more rural place such as Roero. Common logic was to spend as little time in the vineyard as possible - those working naturally and spending more time were suckers, and Nino explained how his father and grandfather were often chastised for working in the way that he did.

Now that I was seeing Roero differently myself, I kept noticing affirmations of my new, yet seemingly rare knowledge - things like well regarded wine shops in NY directly importing Cascina Val Del Prete, and bottles being buried on deep wine lists; easter eggs for a small minority. It all had an insiders “if you know, you know” kind of vibe.

Since we’ve partnered with the Roagna family, we have seen the subtle rebirth of Cascina Val Del Prete with modest adjustments from Nino. Specifically, Arneis is picked a touch earlier in the season and much more concrete is used in the cellar, in place of neutral oak. These have always been ample and intense wines, and remain so, though Nino’s adjustments bring a little more lift to the final package.

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