Sandri, Elio

In view of the Swiss Alps from the cool Piedmont region of northwest Italy, the Sandri family farms this foggy area of steep hillside vineyards, east of Barolo in the hamlet of Monforte d’Alba. Grapes have been grown there for millennia, and since the late 1800s by the Sandri family. Originally selling their grapes to other wineries, Elio Sandri decided to keep all fruit for bottling his own wines, amounting to a tiny annual production of 2,000 cases. Cascina (farmhouse) Disa dates back to the local winemaking monastery in the early 1400s. A Traditionalist in winemaking and growing, the house style rewards bottle age, and is released later than most in the area.