The History of Chielisò
early 1900’s
The Chielisò winery was born from a winemaking experience dating back to our great-grandfather Ernesto Ribaldone who, in the early 1900’s together with his wife Luigina, owned the vineyards and the cellar in the Lu Monferrato area. In those days, wine was an integral part of the meal and was also drunk during hard work.
Ernesto made wine in concrete barrels and transported the wine to Turin in wooden barrels placed on a horse-drawn cart, on a journey that lasted two days. In those times, wine was sold almost exclusively in bulk to the many taverns.
One of his five children, Piero, still a teenager, loved cultivating vines and seeing wine made from his grapes…
… But his father sold the farmhouse and the vineyards, and from that moment the tradition apparently seemed to stop.
1965
The passion for viticulture always remained in the heart of Piero who, after a few years, began selling wine again in the Sant’Anna di Cassine area together with his brothers Luigi and Giovanni.
1968
Piero decided to move, with his wife Irene and their children Massimo and Marco, to a farmhouse in Gavonata.
1972
Piero bought a vineyard and began winemaking.
The wine qualities were mainly the same as today, Barbera, Dolcetto, Freisa, Cortese and Malvasia. Hamburg Muscat was also grown and sold to customers as table grapes.
Over time, Massimo and Marco also grew passionate about the joy of the grape harvest, which was evident in the festive songs of the farmers, the tables set up in the vineyards, and the abundance of the harvest after a whole year of work.
1987
The years passed and in 1987 Marco decided to continue the tradition with his wife, Giovanna.
1991
In 1991, they built a new winery in Gavonata, on a small plateau overlooking Cassine and the Apennines, called “Alti San Pietro” by the farmers of Gavonata.
2005
Marco and Giovanna coined the name Chielisò, inspired by their love for their children, CHIara, ELia, and SOfia, a name that still represents the winery today.
2019
The family tradition was renewed again when Sofia decided to continue the winemaking business together with her father Marco, supported by the constant presence of the family.
2025
The inauguration of a tasting and events room. We would like to make the people who visit us experience the same joy and conviviality of the harvest days, when the sunsets and the colors of nature are beautiful and the must begins to ferment in the barrel; when, after a morning of hard work and laughter in the vineyard collecting the bunches, we sit at the table and enjoy eating good things from our Monferrato and drinking the wine, remembering the harvest from which it was born.