Margherita Otto
Margherita Otto
Italy • Monforte d’Alba, Piedmont
Margherita Otto was officially founded in 2015.
The winery’s first release – in May 2019 – was the 2015 vintage Barolo.
ABOUT ALAN & THE BEGINNINGS OF MARGHERITA OTTO
I come from a wine-loving family. Both my father and grandfather were collectors; my grandfather loved Burgundy, my father loved Bordeaux and California. My parents opened a bottle of wine with dinner almost every evening. To my young eyes, this was normal. I began taking itty-bitty sips from my father’s glass when I was about 4 years old.
Once I finished my degree in 1986, I began buying wine for myself; the first bottles of Barolo entered my small cellar in the mid-late 1980s. Thus began a lifelong fascination. Many good friends opened doors for me to understand the Langhe area and its wines better.
Before moving permanently to Italy, I had worked in and with wine for over 15 years. In 1997 I founded Primitivo, a wine bar/restaurant in Colorado Springs, CO, which had a 6-year run. There were 45 wines by the glass, an excellent kitchen and a 2200 selection wine list. In 2003 I launched VintageSpec, a company to build, fill and manage the private cellars of individual collectors. VintageSpec comprised of 1) a construction and woodworking division, which built custom cellars with temperature and humidity controls in private homes, 2) a wine store, both physical and online, to help our collectors source their favorite wines, and 3) a cellar management consultancy that helped collectors achieve maximum satisfaction from their wine investments. I sold all the various businesses between 2003 and 2008, except that I retained VintageSpec as a stand-alone consulting service for a few private collectors.
I came to the Barolo for the first time in February 1995 and fell in love with the area – un coup de foudre. From then on I made at least one visit annually (except 1997, I got busy opening a restaurant … ), to learn about the subtle differences in winemaking, vineyard management and terroir that make these wines so fascinating. I began spending each harvest with a different winemaker beginning in 2008; in this way I was able to significantly deepen my understanding of the subtleties that emerge from the small differences in location of the vines, viticultural practices and winemaking techniques. I spent 6-12 weeks in the Barolo each fall for the next few years, learning winemaking at the side of Luciano Sandrone (my first teacher; Luciano taught me how to make wine), then in subsequent years gaining experience in the cellars of Elio Altare, Maria Teresa Mascarello (at Bartolo Mascarello), Alfio and Giuseppe Cavallotto and Marco Marengo.
Wines We Carry
To view our current wines from this producer, please download our wine portfolio.