Giovanni Battista Gillardi emigrated from Piedmont to Provence in 1890, where he soon became established in the wine trade. But in 1923 he returned to Piedmont and purchased Cascina Corsaletto, where he began growing Dolcetto with his children. In 1980 estate-bottling began, starting a tradition based in hard work and high quality. In 1993, Giacolino Gillardi planted a miniscule plot of Syrah, the first ever in Piemonte, as a nod to his ancestor’s connections to France, using vine cuttings from Auguste Clape’s estate in Cornas in the Northern Rhone.
What began as a small experiment ended up becoming his most prestigious wine, “HARYS” (Syrah spelled backwards, as it was not then permitted to indicate this variety on the label). Due to Giacolino Gillardi’s diligence with this variety, it is now allowed as a part of the Langhe Rosso DOC discipline.
Gillardi might be known as one of the most prominent producers of Syrah in Italy, but its roots and history bear a closer link to Dolcetto. Dogliani, where the certified organic estate is located, enjoys such a reputation for the production of high quality, cellar-worthy Dolcettos, that it was recently granted DOCG status, the first ever for Dolcetto-based wines.
Gillardi’s Dogliani “Cursalet” is resolutely traditional in style, with it’s broad-shouldered style and elegant manner rejecting any oak (in fact, Giacolino vehemently fought to include stainless steel fermented only Dolcetto into the Dogliani DOCG). In the same vein, the family has begun producing a Barolo from a few tiny plots in Barolo and La Morra. This is vinified the traditional way in 20-hectoliter casks of Slavonian oak. On the other hand you have the “HARYS” and its younger sibling “Fiore di Harys”, a blend of Syrah and Dolcetto rounded out with a little Cabernet and Merlot. These wines wear modernity and their French influence loudly, fermented in stainless steel and aged in French oak, showcasing the complete range of not just varietal, but stylistic approach at the Gillardi estate.
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