Giuseppe Cortese

The Cortese Estate is located in the hamlet of Rabajà, within the prestigious commune of Barbaresco, just a mile from the ancient town. The family home sits atop a bowl that cradles the Rabajà vineyard, one of Barbaresco’s finest single vineyards. The winery is located in an underground cellar nestled in the upper hillside of the bowl. On the other side of Cortese’s 20 acres of vines, in the adjacent village of Trifolera, sits its beautiful, newly finished bed & breakfast, with idyllic views of row after row of Nebbiolo stretching below.

A native of Barbaresco, Giuseppe Cortese began winemaking by working with his father, Giacomo. He went on to serve as cellar master and vineyard manager for some of Piedmont’s most prestigious wineries. During this time, he gained invaluable knowledge of the Nebbiolo grape and how to maximize its potential in and around the Barbaresco zone. Realizing the future of high-quality Barbaresco wines was in developing the potential of the terroir, Giuseppe began re-orienting the family’s wine business and remodeling the winery, improving vinification techniques, and purchasing new land among the famous Rabajà vineyards. 

Attentive, rigorous care of the estate’s vineyards, strict selection of the best clusters, a traditional approach to vinification, and a gentle hand with modern techniques are the ingredients that result in wines with unmistakable personality and unique flavors. For example, in the cellar various sizes of the larger traditional botti are used because Cortese believes that each lot needs to be treated individually and thus requires several different sizes of aging vessels. 

After graduating from the highly regarded Enological School of Alba, Giuseppe’s son Piercarlo joined him in the 1990s. Today, Cortese is the typical small, family-run winery, with Giuseppe’s wife Rosella and daughter Tiziana playing active roles in commercial aspects and public relations.