La Torretta: Discovering Emilia Romagna
La Torretta, a historic winery in Piacenza, is located in Sala Mandelli in the heart of Val Tidone, a valley that occupies the westernmost part of Emilia Romagna, an area with a vocation for producing wine with hills cloaked in vineyards, small villages, castles and mills. Climbing the gentle hillside from the bottom of the valley, you will come across vineyards that look like gardens and reach the center of the winery, located in a setting with an enviable panorama. There are historical records of Torretta dating as far back as the 1600s. Visible signs of that era remain in the ancient nucleus of buildings, and the surrounding land had already been cultivated with vineyards by 1822. After renovations in the 1980s, La Torretta became an ideal meeting place for all those who love to combine the pleasure of wine with that of exploring places rich in history, tradition and culture. In 2015 the company made a further qualitative leap as it joined a neighboring winery to form one of the largest wineries in Val Tidone. The Marchesi Family, the dedicated architect of this merger, has enriched La Torretta with a wide range of grape varieties with a more international quality and taste. The company has about 30 hectares of vineyards and they are located at an altitude between 250 and 400 meters above sea level. The most represented red grape varieties are the traditional local ones such as Barbera and Bonarda, the blend which gives rise to
the famous Gutturnio, while we have the Ortrugo and Malvasia for the white wine varieties. Over the years, the company has added international varieties such as Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah to the traditional grape varieties with the aim of including modernity and elegance to the wines and high quality results. Caring for the vineyards is of the utmost priority for the winery: all cultivation operations are carried out while ensuring perfect health and ripeness of the grapes. Harvesting is strictly manual and given the location of the plots surrounding the estate, the grapes, once harvested, are transported to the winery where they are de- stemmed and crushed in a very short time, which is an essential requirement for perfect winemaking. As of 2021 we began the path of organic cultivation in the certainty that respecting the environment is our goal. Our products include the 2016 Pinot Noir, which after a temperature-controlled fermentation for 15 to 20 days, it is then stored for a year in steel barrels and put on the market after it has been aged for three years in bottles. The Rosso del Riccio Barbera is a pure wine where the grapes macerated with the skin for 14 days and then aged in barrels for 12 months and subsequently in bottles for 6 months. We participated in the Falstaff Barbera Trophy 2022 and received an excellent score for our Rosso del Riccio Barbera wine.This recognition further stimulates us to continue on the path of quality. Almost all our products are sold in Italy to enthusiasts who like to come directly to the company to buy our wine. We also sell our wines in other in European countries such as Great Britain, Germany and France. Thanks to the combination of antique passion, experience in the vineyard and modern technology in the cellar, La Torretta is fully integrated into the world of Piacenza’s wine business and is a precise point of reference.
