Liguria, Italy
Azienda Agricola Bruna
When Riccardo Bruna founded Azienda Agricola Bruna, making wine from local grape variety Pigato was at the forefront of his mind. The idea seemed more than a little audacious at the time, but it soon paid off. This estate produces complex, delicate wines imbued with structure and minerality.
Azienda Agricola Bruna is situated amid the beautiful steep terraced vineyards of Ranzo near the Ligurian coast. Winery founder, the late Riccardo Bruna, was a fervent advocate of the indigenous Pigato grape.
Passion for Pigato
Pigato is a late-ripening white variety related to Vermentino. Riccardo’s love and intuitive understanding of Pigato were what motivated him to begin restoring his family’s old vineyards in Ranzo at the start of the 1970s. He farmed these plots sustainably. From the outset, Riccardo knew that eschewing all herbicides and synthetic treatments was the only possible way to obtain impeccable fruit and make better wines from year to year. Thanks to this approach, quite novel at the time, the estate was able to stand out clearly from its competitors.
Second-generation family winery
Riccardo’s daughter Francesca and her husband Roberto now manage the winery. Their eight hectares under vine were all planted on dry-stone-wall terraces amid the shrubs, olive trees, and oaks of the Ligurian hinterland between the municipalities of Ortovero und Ranzo. The dry, mild and very windy local climate is conducive to their environmentally friendly brand of viticulture. Francesca and Roberto rely on native-yeast fermentation in the cellar, completely shunning the use of cultured yeasts. Their wines mature for long periods on their natural, indigenous lees.
Azienda Agricola Bruna symbolises Liguria’s singular beauty and diversity, which the estate’s eponymous owners have long been committed to preserving.
