AZIENDA AGRICOLA PLATINETTI GUIDO

A GENUINE FAMILY BUSINESS

Four generations of farmers and winemakers whose personal and tenacious roots sink as deeply into the soil of Alto Piemonte as those of their vineyards atop the hill opposite the town of Ghemme.


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RELATING THE HISTORY OF AZIENDA AGRICOLA PLATINETTI GUIDO INVOLVES, AS ALWAYS HAPPENS WHEN TALKING ABOUT VINEYARDS AND WINES, MENTIONING THE TRADITIONS BUT, ABOVE ALL, DESCRIBING THE STORY OF DETERMINED MEN.

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The beginnings


At the beginning of the 20th century, Carlo Platinetti and Gaudenzio Fontana, respectively the great- grandfather and grandfather of the current owners, cultivated vineyards in the most suitable areas around Ghemme and vinified in the winery inside Castello Ricetto, in the heart of the town.

Then the Great War abruptly interrupted the agricultural tranquillity of these valleys, distancing young people from the countryside and causing a drastic decline in the number of vineyards in what was in fact one of the regions of Italy with the most grapevines, and famed for the unique quality of the wines it produced.

Farm


Philosophy of Platinetti's wines

But for the Platinetti family wine was in their DNA, and during the first half of the 1970s, Mario resumed cultivation of his father Gaudenzio’s historic plots.

With the help of his father-in-law Guido, who was Carlo’s son, he founded Azienda Agricola Platinetti Guido and began planting new Nebbiolo grapevines on Ronco al Maso, the hill nearest the town. And so it is that since the planting of those first grafts the estate has gone from strength to strength.

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It is now owned and run by Mario’s three children - Stefano, Maria and Andrea Fontana, who, having graduated from the Alba School of Oenology, tends the vineyards and manages all the winemaking processes himself, together with his son Pietro. Andrea is a meticulous winemaker, who is more inclined to critical thinking than to mere experimentation in a land where wine has always been made in a certain way.

His is a form of viticulture that transcends the concepts of past and future, which has never been tempted to rush ahead nor regress, but has always and exclusively focussed on the here and now, unhindered by passing fads and influences.

Awards


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Because, in Alto Piemonte wine is still made as it used to be,

but “as it used to be made” here is not “as it used to be made” in other places.

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