Colombera & Garella
Colombera & Garella
AboutColombera & Garella
In 1992, Carlo Colombera and Michela Bianchetto Songia bought Cascina Cottignano, a derelict farm at Masserano with old Nebbiolo vines in neighbouring plots. Carlo left rice farming for viticulture in 1996; in 2010 he and his son Giacomo formed the present partnership with winemaker Cristiano Garella. Giacomo’s brother Guglielmo joined them in 2019.
They farm seven hectares of Nebbiolo, Croatina and Vespolina across Lessona, Masserano and Brusnengo. Chemical weedkillers are avoided, and fermentation begins with native yeasts.
Colombera & Garella 2020 Cascina Cottignano Bramaterra
Italian Red
Nebbiolo forms eighty percent of the blend, with Croatina and Vespolina at ten percent each. The Cottignano parcel lies at 350 metres in Masserano, on acidic volcanic porphyritic sand. The organically farmed vines are twenty to fifty years old. Native-yeast fermentation follows destemming and soft crushing, with up to forty days on skins. The blend rests six months in concrete, then two years in an older large oak cask.
Colombera & Garella 2022 Melascone
Italian Red
The blend contains sixty-five percent Nebbiolo, twenty percent Croatina and fifteen percent Vespolina. Strawberry, saline character and a mineral edge are present. The fruit comes from young vines in Bramaterra and Lessona vineyards outside the Costa della Sesia appellation. Melascone is a local dialect term for Nebbiolo, and the wine was previously called Costa della Sesia.
Colombera & Garella 2022 Vispavola
Italian Red
Made entirely from Vespolina, this deeply coloured red has an aromatic, spicy profile. The grapes are hand-harvested and fermented with ambient yeasts. Maturation lasts about one year in stainless steel, and the bottles are cellared for several months before release. The fruit comes from two parcels in Masserano at roughly 350 metres with southwest and southeast exposures.
Colombera & Garella 2017 Cascina Cottignano Bramaterra
Italian Red
Dark cherry in the glass, with plump cherry and raspberry lifted by a quiet floral perfume. The palate moves through red and black berries, savoury herbs and a distinctly stony, mineral line. Tempered acidity and broad, medium-grained tannins keep the ripe fruit composed. Decant briefly and serve with roast duck, wild mushrooms, braised beef or aged mountain cheese.