Producer notes - Cappellano produces a limited bottling from vines that are original pre-phylloxera rootstock. Although planted in the same Gabutti cru, the wine itself can be dramatically different than the “Rupestris”, its brother wine, all this due to the difference between the “pre” and “post” phylloxera origins of the vines. There is an “exoticism” perhaps to the “Pie Franco”, an ethereal element to its aromas and flavors that make this a unique offering … clearly a rare and special experience. Cappellano is one Piedmont’s most heralded producers of Barolo. It was run for decades by the legendary Teobaldo Cappellano, who until his death in 2009 was considered one of the last great traditionalists in Piedmont. He was also a winemaker who lived entirely by his own rules. In 1983 he banished wine writers from his cellars unless they agreed to forgo the standard numerical rating system for his wines. Writers started describing his wines but not giving them scores. After Teobaldo’s death his son Augusto took over the estate, and, following in his father’s footsteps, Augusto has continued his father’s policy of demanding reviews without scores.