Valfaccenda
About
Luca and Carolina first met in 2004 when she was a graphic designer and he was an oenologist. Luca’s family has a long history in the Roero; their family name first noted on a map from 1749 that lists the name of a valley in the heart of the Roero as Valle Faccenda. When Luca was able to reclaim an expired grape contract for his family’s vines, they started the winery and the project: Valfaccenda. Immediately they set to converting the vines to certified organic viticulture and renovating the centur- old family farmhouse. “We practice organics for ourselves and for our the expression of our land. It’s important for us to work in a manner that if our children want to carry on the work, they can,” says Luca.
Talking with Luca and Carolina, it becomes abundantly clear just how passionate and focused they are on charting their own course to shine the spotlight on the Roero. They have sort of mindset where everything they are doing is part of a vision for what the wines of the Roero can and should be—there’s no imitation of the famous surrounding regions—just innovation that shows exactly what’s possible here.
Most of their vineyards lie close to the cantina, mostly in Valfaccenda, in Canale on the hills which line Le Rocche – a proper landmark in Roero – with few old plots rented in Valmaggiore in Vezza, Madonna di Loreto in Canale, and San Grato in Santo Stefano Roero. In total, they now farm 3.5 ha of vines. The soils of Roero are made of sand – precisely called ‘sabbie astiane’ – that anciently formed the sea bed of Padania gulf, mixed with older clay sheets and small quantities of silt. The vineyards, most of which sit between 260-400 meters altitude, are incredibly steep, and the majority of the work, including all harvesting, is done manually. Here, the two most iconic grapes are Arneis and Nebbiolo. From the start Valfaccenda has focused exclusively on these varieties, conscious that only using the most deep-rooted grapes can they truly vinify a territory. “This terroir helps us to make salty, juicy and chewy wines: this is our natural identity, this is our Roero," says Luca.
In the last two to three years, Valfaccenda has also branched out into experimenting with new grapes varieties under their ‘Bis’ lineup—complete with cheeky mod labels designed by Carolina—where the terroirs that are just north of the Roero border, into Monferrato, are explored. Working with just one or two organic farmers with whom the couple is close, the duo has the opportunity to vinify and render in exactly the Valfaccenda style some other grapes that are traditional nearby but not in their exact Roero terroir. It’s a unique new opportunity to see Luca’s hand and their palate applied to some cool other grape varieties and a conversation between Roero and Monferrato in general. We’re happy to have these very high-quality négociant wines added to the lineup along with their very serious estate wines, as well.
Products
Roero Arneis
Certified Organic. 100% Arneis. This classic white comes from two different vineyard sites (Loreto and Mompellini) with different exposition and soils; average vine age is 10-15 years, planted on the famous Roero sand, with some clay and loam. Luca & Carolina make three different harvests, treating each pass differently in cantina before blending the lots together. All the fruit is hand-harvested and destemmed. In the 2022 Roero Arneis, about 30% of the total fruit underwent maceration for seven days; the remaining fruit was direct-pressed. 40% of the wine was aged and underwent malolactic fermentation in oak barrels, while the rest was in a mix of concrete and stainless steel. While Arneis is often known for being rotund and a bit lifeless, Valfaccenda's version is both fuller-weight, but with great salinity, zest, and energy -- an updated, excellent example of this appellation and variety that hasn't gotten the care and attention it deserves.
Roero
Certified Organic. 100% Nebbiolo. This cuvée is the flagship of the domaine; the heart of the fruit is always taken from the home vineyards at the property (literally, valley of the Faccenda family). The sites of the Valfaccenda vineyards are Loreto and Mompellini, on sandy and loam/sandy soil, respectively; the blend is rounded out by fruit from Santo Stefano Roero (‘San Grato,’ on sandy soil). All fruit was hand-harvested at full maturity, mostly destemmed (5% whole clusters included), and macerated for three weeks in a mix of concrete and stainless steel. The wine is then moved into big, neutral wood botti for one year’s worth of year of aging, followed by another year of age in bottle. The ’21 Roero is relatively rich, fuller-bodied, with fine but present tannin. It’s open, as Valfaccenda’s Roero always is, with overt perfume of cherries, soil, and flowers right away - a youthful Nebbiolo that doesn’t require the intensive aging regimen of similar-quality Nebbiolo from the Langhe.
Vino Rosso 'Vindabeive' (Nebbiolo)
Certified Organic. 100% Nebbiolo. This is Valfaccenda's "picnic wine," for drinking immediately. It comes from all the young vineyards at the estate, plus some fruit from some "fresh" exposures in the oldest vineyard holdings. Steep slopes, sandy/clay soils, and mostly east-facing. Super easy winemaking: 60% is destemmed and whole berry and 40% is whole clusters. They do a 4-5 day carbonic maceration with 3 pumpovers in total in steel. Then they press in the basket press, the wine finishes fermentation in neutral barrel; they rack a couple of times before and after malolactic, then bottle in late winter.
Roero ‘Valmaggiore’
Certified Organic. 100% Nebbiolo. Valmaggiore is a single vineyard located in Vezza D'Alba, planted in 1947 with a south/southeast exposition, sandy limestone soils with a hint of clay. The vineyard is so steep that Luca has no choice but to do everything by hand- a tractor can’t safely navigate this site. The fruit is hand-harvested, destemmed, and moved to concrete tank without pumping but instead with a basket and forklift in order to keep as many berries whole as possible. Gentle hand pigeage and soft pumpovers, one per day, for 2-3 weeks. The wine is then pressed off using a basket press into big casks where malo naturally occurs. After 12 months in cask they bottle and then age the bottles almost 2 years before release.
Roero Arneis Riserva ‘Loreto’
Certified Organic. 100% Arneis. This is Luca Faccenda's top white wine, an homage to an appellation in the Piedmont still little understood, defined by Arneis on intensely sandy, well-draining soils, on hillside vineyards with elevation. 'Loreto' is the Roero bianco riserva from the domaine, from a tiny parcel in the appellation by the same name, vines of 60 years of age. This Loreto was done without maceration, just free-run juice directly into one acacia barrel, aged for 6 - 7 months. Luca retains the lees in the barrel throughout élevage as a way of balancing the oxidative nature of the acacia wood. 2020 was a 'wide' vintage, resulting in a wine that's a little more 'relaxed.' Spicy, piquant, vibrantly mineral. Like a more robust or structured salty Chablis.
Vino Rosato Frizzante 'Bubba'
Certified Organic. 75% Arneis, 25% Nebbiolo. An entry into Valfaccenda's 'playful' wines, 'Bubba' is a first-time appearance as of 2021. Young vines of Arneis are combined with an early harvest of some younger parts of Valfaccenda's Nebbiolo vineyards; it's pressed as a still rosé into stainless steel, then bottled toward the end of winter with the addition of Nebbiolo must to get the wine to referment in bottle and create natural sparkle. Pur jus: a very fun ancestrale style wine normally not seen in the more serious realms of the Roero.
Vino Rosso 'Bis-Esto' (Grignolino)
Certified Organic. 100% Grignolino. In 2020, Valfaccenda finally had enough time and resources as they've grown as a winery to take on a new little side project about which Luca Roggero has been curious for a long time: the terroir of new appellation for the duo: in this case, Monferrato. This is Grignolino from Monferrato, a native Piemontese variety which doesn't occur in the sandy soils of their home Roero. Sourced from an organic grower of a vineyard of 25 year-old vines, on white chalky soils and with a southeast exposition. For the ’22 version, the fruit was macerated for two weeks, fermented in steel, and aged for six months in a mix of cement and steel. Unfined, unfiltered. Only a few thousand bottles produced -- this will always be a limited production wine, as it's a little passion project for the winery.
Vino Bianco 'Bis-lacco' (Cortese/Arneis)
Certified Organic. 60% Cortese, 40% Arneis. Fruit sourced from certified organic farmer friends of the Faccenda family in order to create a more approachable and easygoing white for the domaine. Vineyards are planted on chalky soils; fruit is destemmed, ferment and aging are all in stainless steel. Bright, medium-weight white wine, with a saltiness that is a hallmark of Valfaccenda's work, even in this négociant bottling.
Vino Rosso 'Bis-Turna' (Freisa)
Certified Organic. 100% Freisa. Drawn from two plots of 25-30 year-old vines on white clay soils from north of Roero, tended by a neighboring organic farmer with whom Luca and Carolina of Valfaccenda are close. The fruit underwent a two week-long maceration, with fermentation and élevage mainly in concrete and a small part in neutral oak. Deeper-fruited, with a fine tannic structure--red and purple in tone, medium-to-full bodied.
