Bisso A.

HI! My name is Bisso, "adopted” in Piedmont since 2009. I have been working in the wine business since the year 2000, first as an importer, then as a journalist and now as a winegrower and winemaker. I have traveled the world, I have done 22 harvests, of which 14 in Piedmont and the others in Greece, France, Portugal, Chile, South Africa and the state of Washington. In 2012 I founded a winery in Serralunga d'Alba. The Barolo from my 5th harvest was named Best In Show, placed among the 50 best wines in the world in the DWWA-2020 edition. In 2019 I set out on my own and created the QUILA estate.

The name QUILA derives from the common part of the words "aquila" (eagle), as the estate's largest vineyard, located in Cossano Belbo (Langhe) has the shape of an eagle's head, and "tequila", as a large quantity of agaves was planted there by the previous owners. Furthermore, the golden eagle is the official symbol of Mexico just as tequila is its most famous beverage in the world. The link with Mexico also passes through the so-called Mexican "Nebbiolo", one of the most cultivated red grapes in the country, which is actually another Piedmontese grape variety, which has almost disappeared in its land of origin. One of my main projects is to discover the potential of this "fool grape" (as they call it in Piedmont) which has already received numerous awards under the Mexican flag, in its homeland. The research began in 2015 and already involves several wineries from Messico and the Universities of Turin and Piacenza.

In 2019 I found the last existing micro vineyard of Mexican "Nebbiolo" in Piedmont, near Tortona, took the grapes and made one barrel of wine (the MX*Quila). I also took cuttings from that vineyard and in 2021 I planted 0.4 ha of Moretto (the local name of the grape) in Cossano Belbo (Langhe). In addition to Moretto, I produce Arneis, Favorita, Nebbiolo, Croatina, Pinot Noir and Dolcetto. Some of my wines are rather experimental: Favorita “orange” in amphora hen turned into spumante, some pet.nats, a “field-blend” based on Dolcetto, a Nebbiolo "ripasso", a full wet carbonic maceration Pinopt Nero. Other wines are more traditional, like the Barbaresco and both colors of Roero. In 2023 I took a vineyard in the latter. Old plantings of Nebbiolo and Arneis, Lyre trained vertical rows (“Mosel style”) on a very steep slope. The vineyard is worked completely by hand.

A series of genetic analyzes carried out in 2020-2022 on particular vines, found in the oldest estate vineyard (planted in 1935) revealed non classified clones of widespread varieties such as Freisa, Barbera, Bonarda Piemontese and Malvasia di Casorzo, and rare cultivars such as Uvalino and Brunetta di Rivoli, as well as varieties on the brim of extinction such as Barbarossa Piemontese (with pink berries) and Tenjurìn (with colored pulp). Some of these native varieties were propagated and planted in 2022 & 2023. The experiments never end!