Piedmont
Est. 1856 
7 wines 
Tastings
Tours
Booking required 
Wine area
Langhe
The hill country south of Alba that grows Barolo, Barbaresco and the everyday Nebbiolo, Dolcetto and Barbera bottlings sold under the Langhe DOC umbrella.
Ettore Germano
Ettore Germano farms ten hectares at the heart of Serralunga d'Alba, and nine more at Cigliè in the cooler hills of the Alta Langa. Together that is about 27 football pitches of vines. From the Cerretta hillside come the Barolos Cerretta, Prapò, Vignarionda and a Lazzarito Riserva. The high Cigliè estate gives the Riesling Hérzu and the Alta Langa DOCG sparkling wine, the cellar's second signature. Visits and tastings run at the Località Cerretta cellar, with a terrace looking out over the Prapò vineyard.
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Wines from Ettore Germano
About Ettore Germano
The Germano family has worked vines here since 1856. Sergio Germano's great-grandfather Francesco and grandfather Alberto grew grapes and sold the fruit. It went to the cooperatives, and to neighbours who made wine for their own tables. Bottling under the family name began in the 1970s. Sergio's father Ettore, who gave the winery his name, founded it formally in 1975. His first small batches went to friends and private customers.
Sergio took over in the 1980s, after oenology school in Alba and spells at three respected Langhe estates. His first 5,000 bottles of Barolo, Dolcetto and Barbera reached the market in 1988. From 1993, every grape the family grew was made into wine and bottled in-house. The most important planting came in 1995. On a high slope at Cigliè, in the Alta Langa, Sergio set out the first parcels of Chardonnay and Riesling. They feed the still and sparkling whites that now share the label with the Barolos.
The Serralunga side covers Cerretta, Prapò and Lazzarito. Half a hectare of Vigna Rionda joined them in 2010, through Sergio's mother Rosanna. The Cigliè side sits higher, where cooler air and limestone soils suit Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and the Riesling Hérzu. The Barolo line runs from the village blend to the single-vineyard Cerretta, Prapò, Vignarionda and the Lazzarito Riserva.
Each hectare of vines takes about 800 hours of work a year, ninety per cent of it by hand. Cover crops grow between the rows, and the steeper slopes are mown by hand. Pheromones confuse the insect pests, so insecticide stays on the shelf. Beans and grains are dug back in to feed the soil. All of this underpins the estate's conversion to organic farming. The cellar keeps the same discipline: gentle pressing and pumping, an in-house lab, and screw caps on selected whites so fewer sulphites are needed.
Sergio runs the estate with his wife Elena, who looks after administration and guests at the Cerretta cellar. Their son Elia, born in 1998, is the fourth generation in the vines. His sister Maria, an oenology graduate too, works alongside him in the vines. The winery belongs to the Viticoltura Armoniosa sustainable farming programme and is an associated estate of the Strada del Barolo.
Plate I · PIEDMONT
Ettore Germano on the Piedmont wine atlas
Winery
Ettore Germano
Serralunga d'Alba, Cuneo · Langhe
Denominations Produced
Grapes Used
Visit & Experiences
3 bookable experiences at Ettore Germano
3 tastings, checked by our editors. From €35.
Tasting
The Classic
90 minutes
€35 per person
A five-wine flight that runs from the Alta Langa whites to two Barolos, framed as a survey of the estate's range. Tasting includes a guided cellar visit at Località Cerretta.
Book this tasting
on germanoettore.com
Tasting
A Jump into Alta Langa
90 minutes
€45 per person
Five-glass focus on the Alta Langa estate at Cigliè: still whites and Metodo Classico sparkling drawn from limestone soils at altitude. Tasting includes a guided cellar visit.
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on germanoettore.com
Tasting
Nebbiolo 360°
90 minutes
€70 per person
Six-wine Barolo focus that walks through the Comune di Serralunga d'Alba blend and the single-vineyard Cerretta, Prapò, Vignarionda and Lazzarito to show how cru changes the same grape. Tasting includes a guided cellar visit.
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on germanoettore.com
Not seeing the estate you want? Estates without an online listing are reachable directly, and their phone and email are in Plan your visit.
Plan your visit
Località Cerretta, 1, 12050 Serralunga d'Alba, Cuneo (Piemonte)
What Ettore Germano makes
Ettore Germano's current bottle selection is led by Barolo DOCG. The clearest grape signal comes from Nebbiolo and Barbera.
Common questions
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The winery is at Località Cerretta 1, Serralunga d'Alba, in the Barolo zone of Piedmont. A second estate at Cigliè in the Alta Langa, about 70 kilometres south, grows the white and sparkling wines.
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