Guglierame

Guglierame is the historic cellar of Pornassio, in the hills behind Imperia. It put Ormeasco on Italian tables. In 1958 it became the first estate in the zone to bottle the local Dolcetto under its own label. The working cellar sits inside the family's medieval castle. Vineyards inherited from the Marchese Scarella line a steep bowl of terraces above the Arroscia valley. Since 2021 the brand has continued under the PeQ Agri group, alongside Lupi and Cascina Praiè.

Three bottles and a glass of Guglierame red wine on a barrel outdoors

About Guglierame

Pornassio sits high in the hills behind Imperia, halfway between the Riviera and the Ligurian Alps. Here the Arroscia valley narrows toward the Colle di Nava pass. This is the heartland of Ormeasco di Pornassio DOC, Liguria's only Dolcetto-based red. The vines grow on south-facing terraces at roughly 350 to 700 metres above sea level. Guglierame's own vineyards cover just under two hectares at the centre of this natural bowl. They were pieced together from holdings inherited from the Marchese Scarella, an ancestor of the family.

The family's wine history reaches back to 1860. Camera di Commercio records in Imperia list an ancestor selling unbottled wine on the city's piazza. The modern chapter began in 1958, when Nicola Guglierame and his sons started bottling their own wine. That was an unusual early move for inland Liguria. Eredi Ing. Guglierame went on to become the first producer in the zone to bottle Ormeasco di Pornassio under its own label. The cellar still sets the reference for the appellation.

The working cellar fills the medieval castle that is the family's ancestral seat. Bottling, ageing and cask storage all stay inside the old stone walls. Brothers Raffaele and Agostino Guglierame ran the estate for decades. The local press said their culture of the wine bordered on the obsessive. Pruning was set for the high altitude site, not for coastal habit. Bunches were picked over by hand before harvest. The brothers were reluctant to use systemic vineyard chemicals. The flagship is the Ormeasco Superiore Guglierame. A Sciac-trà rosato joins it, made from the same Dolcetto pressed off its skins.

In the glass the Ormeasco shows ruby red. Ligurian guides keep returning to the same perfume: liquorice, bitter almond, blackberry and morello cherry. The structure is lean and food-driven, and it makes Dolcetto behave like a mountain wine in this corner of the Riviera. Vivino tasters, across more than 600 ratings, cluster around red fruit, earthy notes and a measured oaky frame. The Superiore bottling holds up across a decade. It is the natural anchor for the cured meats and oven-baked rabbit of the Arroscia table.

In March 2021 the brothers sold the vineyards, the brand and the modern cellar equipment to PeQ Agri. That Andora group already owned Lupi and Cascina Praiè. The Pornassio holdings joined a wider Western Liguria portfolio centred on Terrazza Praié in Colla Micheri. Raffaele and Agostino kept the family's olive groves. They still produce Taggiasca extra-virgin oil for their own use. The Guglierame label endures as PeQ Agri's Ormeasco line, the historic vine source that still defines the profile of the DOC.

Editorial · ItalianWines.co.uk

Plate I · LIGURIA

Guglierame on the Liguria wine atlas

Anchored in Pornassio and the Alta Valle Arroscia, the editorial heart of Liguria.

Via Castello, 10, 18024 Pornassio, Imperia (Liguria)
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Experiences at Guglierame

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Wines from Guglierame

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ormeasco-guglierame.it/
Via Castello, 10, 18024 Pornassio, Imperia (Liguria)
+39 018333037
[email protected]

Common questions

  • The cellar and vineyards are in Pornassio, in the inland hills of Imperia, in Liguria. The estate sits inside a medieval castle in the village's Castello Villa quarter. That is roughly halfway between the western Riviera coast and the Colle di Nava pass into Piedmont.
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