Notary documents from the 19th century attest to the presence of the Rocca family in the township of Barbaresco since 1834, the same year our ancestor Francesco (1834-1894) was born.
In 1864, Francesco drafted the prenuptial agreements with his future wife, Luigia Cheinasso. In the document, Francesco is defined as “a farmer born and living in Barbaresco”, the co-owner with his brother Giuseppe of “houses, sites, vineyards, and slopes” located within the township.
According to later documents, our family’s activity revolved around a multi-purpose farm. Viniculture was an important part of the household finances alongside fields for foraging and raising livestock.
Leaping ahead to the end of the 1950s, our family history becomes inextricably tied to one of the most celebrated cru of these hills: Rabajà. It was due to the intuition and courage of Francesco Rocca (1907-1978), nephew of the first Francesco, that the family moved from the center of Barbaresco to the zone of Rabajà at its most southern point in 1958.
The land in Rabajà had always been renowned for producing high quality grapes; in fact, they were sold at a significantly higher price than other nebbiolo grapes from Barbaresco.
Further proof of its quality comes from the fact that the community winery to which we sold our grapes in 1967 already bottled them separately under the label “Vineyards from southwest Rabajà.”
Knowing that we owned an enological heritage unlike any other and willing to develop the hundreds of years of agricultural history behind the Rocca family, Francesco Bruno, class of 1951, decided to shift gears and specialize in viniculture.
1978 was the first harvest that was bottled for wine under the family name. Years of fermentation and experimentation followed, with lots of passion and many challenges to overcome.
Years during which the wines of the Langhe – Barbaresco in particular – enjoyed an incredible growth in international fame.
Francesco continually sought to raise the quality and uniqueness of our wines.
In this atmosphere of renewal and rediscovery of tradition, Bruno Rocca modernized the family business. The goal was to raise the quality of the wines produced and to valorize the extraordinary “family” cru, Rabajà.
They did this through a radical change in the management of the vineyards and work in the cellars. No longer would they focus on maximizing quantity. Instead, all their work was to be centered on producing wines with distinctive character, unique for their unmistakable expression of an extraordinary territory.
The 1990s brought us satisfaction and rewards for our hard work. Our winery became known and recognized on an international level. We bought new vineyards beyond Barbaresco and began to produce other great wines of Piedmont: Langhe Nebbiolo, Barbera d’Alba and d’Asti, Dolcetto, and Chardonnay.
Today, Bruno Rocca’s children Luisa and Francesco work alongside him in the family business.
Their task is to renew the faith in our family history and in the land of our origins; to respect the earth and valorize its vines; and to produce wine that is the result of the incredible equilibrium between the rhythms of nature and the work of humankind.