In 1995 Giuliano Coutandin was on the verge of retirement and decided that instead of whiling away his days playing bocce he would dedicate himself to re-establishing some local vineyards that were on the verge of being abandoned. Him and his son Daniele bought some land from old local farmers with the desire to revive the wine that in the XVI century had such a reputation that cardinal Richelieu had it shipped to Paris for his personal consumption.
We are in the Val Chisone, east of Torino, in the mountains that separate Italy from France where the Winter Olympics were recently held. Extreme landscapes and vertigo-inducing vineyards; fragmented, rugged pockets of vines amidst forest, fruit trees and rocks, where only a few people nowadays choose to “heroically” produce wine.
Daniele now tends the vineyards at an organic regime, but without certification (its costs would not be justified by the mere 2000 bottles of wine produced). A monorail was built in order to facilitate the work where the incline reaches up to 90%. The grapes cultivated are Avana’, Avarengo, Bequet, Chatus and Barbera all ancient local varieties grown in promiscuity with zucchini, thyme and flowers.
The DOC ‘Pinerolese Ramie’ takes its name from the town of Pinerolo and the word Ramie possibly originates from the word ‘rami’, tree branches in Italian, which were used to support the stone walls in the steep terraced vineyards of this area.
The wine is made using only indigenous yeasts and minimal addition of sulfites at the time of bottling (40mg/lt).
The total production is 4000 bottles.