Canelli, Piemonte
We first met Andrea Faccio in 2003 and have imported his wines ever since. The family home and cellar are in the hamlet of Ceirole where they have worked the vineyards for over 200 years. The original 7 hectares of vineyard has steadily expanded to 25 hectares, the most prestigious acquisition being Cascina Dani (1999), a farm that used to house Andrea’s collection of rusting motorbikes and is now a lovely B&B with a pool. The bikes have gone (mostly) and have been replaced by some classics, and yes, he is a bit of a petrol-head who once had the hardship of supplying the Ferrari F1 team.
All Villa Giada’s vineyards are harvested by hand - almost entirely by locals who have helped the family for many years. Spraying and treatments are kept to an absolute minimum. The energy and funds that could have been wasted on certifications have been spent on real benefits to the environment; the petrol-head thing may not quite fit, but nobody is perfect.
Andrea stubbornly supports the wines of his territory with an unerring belief in their qualities. By dint of study and hard work he has fine-tuned the qualities of each individual wine and carved out a niche for each one. His work is meticulous in the vineyard and he has earned his reputation for being ‘a bit of a geek’ (rough translation) in the cellar. His friends Giordano (La Montecchia, Veneto) and Sergio (Rocca di Macìe, Tuscany) recognise this strength and allow responsibility to fall on Andrea for the final stages of their unique joint-venture wines: ‘Primo Volo’ and ‘Tre per Uno’.
