Luca and Carolina first met in 2004 when she was a graphic designer (Carolina Roggero is responsible for the labels) and he was an oenologist. Luca’s family has a long history in the Roero, with their family name first being noted on a map from 1749 that lists the name of a valley in the heart of the Roero as Valle Faccenda. This is where Luca’s family has lived for hundreds of years and where his family still resides. When he was able to reclaim an expired grape contract for his family’s vines, they started Valfaccenda. Immediately they set to converting the vines to certified organic viticulture and renovating the century old family farmhouse.
“We practice organics for ourselves and for our land expression. It’s important for us to work in a manner that if our children want to carry on the work, they can” says Luca.
They have the iconoclastic mindset where everything they are doing is part of a vision for what the wines of the Roero can and should be- there’s no imitation of the famous surrounding regions- just innovation that is showing exactly what is possible in the Roero. In their own words
When taking a break from winemaking you can find Luca Faccenda on his half pipe at the winery.
This is their picnic wine for drinking immediately. It comes from all the young vineyards plus some fruit from some “fresh” exposures in the old vineyards. Steep slopes, sandy/clay soils, and mostly east-facing.
region: Roero, Piedmont, Italy
varietal: Nebbiolo
style: light red / chillable red
farming/cellar: Certified organic, 60% is destemmed and whole berry and 40% is whole clusters. They do a 4-5 day carbonic maceration with 3 pumpovers in total in steel. Then they press in the basket press, the wine finishes fermentation in neutral barrel, they rack a couple of times before and after malo and then bottle in November with some residual gas from fermentation to protect the wine since no SO2 is added.
pairing:
