{"id":3355,"date":"2026-07-30T14:53:44","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T14:53:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=3355"},"modified":"2026-07-30T14:53:44","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T14:53:44","slug":"marchesi-di-gresy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=3355","title":{"rendered":"Marchesi Di Gr\u00e9sy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The people of the Piemonte in northern Italy say that \u201cBarolo is the king and Barbaresco is the queen\u201d.  If that\u2019s so, then the Barbaresco wines produced at the Marchesi Di Gr\u00e9sy have a fair claim to being the king of the queens.  We suppose a little background is necessary to substantiate that claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For starters, the full name of the winery is Tenute Cisa Asinari dei Marchesi Di Gr\u00e9sy.  (That\u2019s \u201cCisa Asinari Estates of the Marquises of Gr\u00e9sy\u201d if Google Translate is to be believed.)  The plural of Marquis is earned, because the French family, escaping the Revolution, have been making wine in this region since 1797.  However, it is only in relatively recent years that the wines made from the Nebbiolo grape in this region became recognized as something special.  Marchesi Di Gr\u00e9sy only started making wine under its own label in 1973 and it was only in 1980 that Barbaresco was granted DOCG status.<\/p>\n\n\n

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A portion of the Martinenga vineyard, behind the Marchesi Di Gr\u00e9sy winery in Barbaresco.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Marchesi Di Gr\u00e9sy makes wines other than Barbaresco.  The Chardonnays and Barberas are quite nice, but that\u2019s not the reason to visit.  Right behind the winery is a steep hill, rounded in the form of an amphitheater.  That\u2019s where the Nebbiolo is planted, in a vineyard known as Martinenga.  It faces south (a requirement for Barbaresco) and the soil and drainage are prefect for the Nebbiolo grape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of this explained in far more detail by a tour guide, who we found to be quite knowledgeable.  The tour is offered in English, making it easier for Americans.  As usual, visitors are shown the barrel room and pressing facilities, which for the most part are no different than other tours around Wine Country.  One interesting note is the use of large casks of Slovenian oak for aging in addition to French barrels, 20% of which are new every year.  (Other wineries use only aged, neutral oak barrels.)  The wines are aged a year in the casks and two years in the barrels.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The wines served at a recent tasting.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Of course, after the tour comes the tasting.  This is where a visit to Marchesi Di Gr\u00e9sy excels.  Experienced wine tasters are used to being told<\/em> about the top wines but being served<\/em> the lesser ones. Not so at this winery.  The tasting begins with two Chardonnays and a Langhe Nebbiolo.  The latter wine comes from the outer regions of the Martinenga vineyard that aren\u2019t directly southern facing and thus can\u2019t be called Barbaresco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then it\u2019s on to the wines that can use that designation.  [A little Italian wine naming convention is needed here.  A single vineyard wine in Italy is called M.G.A., for Menzione Geografica Aggiuntiva<\/em> (Additional Geographical Mention).]  Since all the Barbarescos come from the vineyard just outside, they are all MGAs.  You get to taste two harvests of their basic Barbaresco. (Some basic!)  But within the vineyard there are certain parcels that produce exceptional wines, Camp Gros and Gaiun.  Most wine tastings we have had in wineries around the world don\u2019t open their top riservas<\/em>.  But at Marchesi Di Gr\u00e9sy, visitors really do get to sample the full range of the wines from a top producer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We found the tour and tasting at Marchesi Di Gr\u00e9sy to be one of the most rewarding Wine Country experiences we have had.  All that, and the Marchese even came in to say hello.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The people of the Piemonte in northern Italy say that \u201cBarolo is the king and Barbaresco is the queen\u201d.  If that\u2019s so, then the Barbaresco wines produced at the Marchesi Di Gr\u00e9sy have a fair claim to being the king of the queens.  We suppose a little background is necessary to substantiate that claim. For … Continue reading Marchesi Di Gr\u00e9sy<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3355"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3355"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3358,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3355\/revisions\/3358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}