Langhe · Winery

Le Strette

Le Strette

Le Strette is a small family estate in Novello, the southwestern corner of the Barolo zone, founded in 1997 by the oenologist brothers Mauro and Savio Daniele with the support of their parents Giuliana and Giulio. It takes its name from the old hamlet where the cellar stands: a very narrow lane (a "stretta") squeezed between ancient houses that opens onto a sweeping view of the Barolo hills sloping to the plain, with the Alps behind. The first vintage, 1997, produced just a few thousand bottles of Dolcetto and Barbera.

The estate's guiding idea is to champion Novello's native grapes: Nebbiolo, Barbera, Dolcetto and above all Nascetta (Nas-cëtta in local dialect), a semi-aromatic white variety that had almost vanished, surviving only as a few old vines scattered among the red vineyards. Le Strette was among the handful of growers who revived it from the mid-1990s, and it has become the house signature alongside Barolo.

Today the estate farms about 6.5 hectares in Novello and Barolo, including the Barolo MGAs Bergera-Pezzole and Corini-Pallaretta (Novello) and Bergeisa (Barolo), plus old Barbera, Dolcetto and Nascetta vines at Tarditi. In 2014 the family launched the Pasinot project on the Pasinotti hill, just outside the Barolo zone, buying around 5 hectares of abandoned vineyards and truffle woods. There they restored about a hectare of vines around a 1948 Nascetta parcel, the oldest still producing, and planted a "collection vineyard" of some 750 vines propagated from 29 old Novello plants with researcher Stefano Raimondi (CNR IPSP). The project gave rise to the Pasinot Nascetta (from 2015) and a Pasinot Nebbiolo d'Alba (from 2019).

Farming has been certified sustainable since 2012 (UNI 11233) and under Italy's national integrated production scheme (SQNPI) since 2017: no herbicides, organic manure and cover crops instead of chemical fertiliser, minimal copper and no insecticides beyond mandatory treatments. Mauro Daniele died in 2021; Savio now runs the winery with his daughter Ludovica, making around 25,000 bottles a year according to Langhe.net.

At a glance

Region
Langhe, Piemonte, Italy
Address
Via le Strette 1F, 12060 Novello (CN)
Winemaker
Savio Daniele
Tours
Available
Tastings
Available
Wines listed
10
Website
https://lestrette.com

Visits & tastings

Le Strette is a small family winery in an old hamlet of Novello, and visits are hosted personally by the family (Savio Daniele and his daughter Ludovica). The tour covers the modern cellar, built into the hillside and dug into the local tuff, and the original brick cellar that now holds the tasting room, with views over the Barolo hills to the Alps. Tastings are served with hand-stretched Langhe grissini (sometimes a small plate of cured meats), and a vineyard walk can be arranged in advance. The tasting room takes up to 15 people, visits last about 1 hour 30 minutes, and visits are offered in Italian and English (French also listed by Strada del Barolo).

Tastings

  • Three-wine tasting · Nas-cëtta del Comune di Novello, one Barolo and one wine of your choice, about 1h30 · €15
  • Four-wine tasting · both Nas-cëtta (classic and Pasinot) plus two wines of your choice including a Barolo, about 1h30 · €20
  • Full range tasting · all the estate's wines, about 1h30 · €35

Booking Booking is required, ideally a few days ahead (longer during harvest and truffle season, September to November). Indicative hours are 9:00 to 12:00 and 14:00 to 18:00 by reservation; Strada del Barolo lists Monday to Friday, weekends by appointment, closed 24 December to 15 January. Wines can be bought at the cellar.

Contact

  • Phone: +39 0173 744002
  • Email: lestrette@lestrette.com
  • Address: Via le Strette 1F, 12060 Novello (CN)

Wines from Le Strette

  • Barolo del Comune di Novello: Barolo DOCG del Comune di Novello, Nebbiolo 100%, Red. A blend of the estate's two Novello crus, first made in 2019 and pitched as a portrait of Novello in one bottle.
  • Bergeisa: Barolo DOCG, Nebbiolo 100%, Red. The estate's only Barolo from the commune of Barolo itself: a sandy, south-east facing cru giving an elegant, silky and earlier-drinking style.
  • Bergera-Pezzole: Barolo DOCG, Nebbiolo 100%, Red. The estate's flagship Barolo from a high Novello cru, first bottled under its vineyard name in 2003: austere, spicy and built to age.
  • Corini-Pallaretta: Barolo DOCG, Nebbiolo 100%, Red. A floral, fresh Barolo from old vines in Novello's Corini-Pallaretta, first released with the 2011 vintage.
  • Dolcetto d'Alba: Dolcetto d'Alba DOC, Dolcetto 100%, Red. The first wine Le Strette ever sold (1997 vintage): a fresh, fruity, unoaked everyday Dolcetto.
  • Langhe Nas-cëtta del Comune di Novello: Langhe DOC Nas-cëtta del Comune di Novello, Nascetta (Nas-cëtta) 100%, White. Le Strette's 'classic' Nascetta, a blend from four Novello vineyards that puts the fruity, varietal side of this rescued native white grape first.
  • Le Strette: Barolo DOCG, Nebbiolo 100%, Red. A traditional multi-cru Barolo blending all three estate vineyards, made only in selected vintages.
  • Pasinot: Nebbiolo d'Alba Superiore DOC, Nebbiolo 100%, Red. The red side of the Pasinot project: Nebbiolo from young vines on the historic Nascetta hill, first vinified on its own in 2019 and labelled Superiore from the 2022 vintage.
  • Pasinot: Langhe DOC Nas-cëtta del Comune di Novello, Nascetta (Nas-cëtta) 100%, White. The single-hill cru Nascetta from the Pasinotti slope, home of the oldest surviving Nascetta vineyard (1948), made to show the grape's structure and ageing potential.
  • Persole: Barbera d'Alba DOC Superiore, Barbera 100%, Red. Oak-aged Barbera d'Alba Superiore from old Novello vines, made since the estate's first harvest in 1997.