When Matteo Correggia inherited his father’s estate in 1985, the wine-growing boom was a long way off, and farmers on the left bank of the river Tanaro grew fruit and vegetables alongside vines that were used for making wine for a few close friends.
Matteo was a young farmer who was very keen on wine growing. He decided that his project was simple and for this reason, he would not give up. Making –
not just producing – wines to be remembered: this is what he was going to do.
It wasn’t an easy decision. Making wines of absolute quality, in a region that was still underestimated – because it was misunderstood – seemed wishful thinking to many.
The reality was hard and there was a lot of local prejudice. But Matteo didn’t listen to those who said that the Roero could not produce good wines, and who condemned the new techniques.
When destiny chose to deprive the family and the Roero of Matteo in 2001, he had already completed his new wine cellars, gained international recognition, won sereval awards, met the world’s most important wine makers and, at the same time, kept firm roots with his own region.
Matteo’s connection to this land is written in the stars. In 2000 the name Roero was given to asteroid 8,075, discovered by the American astronomer Bowel: a small piece of rock, about 15 km across, with an orbit very similar to that of another asteriod, number 13,917, named after Matteo.
