Ballabio

Casteggio (Pv) | Lombardy

The Ballabio company was founded in 1905 by a man, Angelo Ballabio, and his dream: to create his own classic sparkling wine, with fermentation in the bottle, of Pinot Noir grapes only, capable of comparing itself with the best Champagne of the time. To speak of the founder today is to remember a rare man, known and loved as one of the pillars of Oltrepadana sparkling wine. An eclectic self-taught figure of wine, he wanted to shape something of his own, with connotations such as to emerge, however, from the anonymous mass of small local production still lacking that commodity identity that the consumer strictly demands. Subsequently, Angelo's experience, combined with the contribution of new modern technical knowledge from his son Giovanni, who in the meantime had graduated from the Umberto I school of Viticulture and Enology in Alba, will be the launch pad of the company. Angelo passed the baton to his son Giovanni who until his death (1975) remained, for the territory, the "medical doctor" of wine, but above all the founder of the first Voluntary Consortium for the Protection of Typical and Precious Wines Oltrepò Pavese. Having no children, however, Giovanni sought a successor to whom he could entrust his dream and, among the many suitors, he chose a group of entrepreneurs from the area; among these it was the Nevelli family and the Mariotti family who acquired the Ballabio legacy. Today the company is led by Filippo, Mattia, Alfio and Nicolo ’Nevelli, brothers and cousins ​​united by passion and entrepreneurial spirit, but above all by a single principle: the continuous pursuit of excellence. In recent years, the winery has been transformed into one of the most avant-garde realities in the area, the first to specialize in the production of only the Classic Method of Pinot Noir grapes, expressing and enhancing the natural characteristics of the terroir.