WINERY
While lesser known than the nearby Albese Langa, the Monregalese area has still been the land of wine for over five hundred years. In fact, some medieval maps dating from the sixteenth century designate the site of Cascina Monsignore as a "winegrowing region", paticularly for the Dolcetto and Moscato varieties.
A century later, the Bishop of Mondovi Michele Casati, together with the Savoy architect De Robilant, began the construction of a manor to be used as a summer residence and a winery for wine production for the Diocesan Curia / Bishop's Courts.
Historical records show that the construction was admired by all to the point that on three subsequent occasions, the Bishops built on the work of their predecessor expanding the building and making it even more lavish.
The most crucial time for Cascina Monsignore and the whole area was on 24 April, 1796 when the winery, vineyards and surrounding hills, were at the centre of the battle between the Austro-Piedmontese troops and those of Napoleon, who fought for three consecutive days until finally the French were victorious, marking the start of Napoleon's triumphant conquest of Italy.
Managed by the prelates (priests of high position) of the Curia for better part of the 1800s, the entire property has been maintained and upgraded according to the latest agricultural knowledge.
In 1916 Pietro Blengini, young Vicese businessman, bought the estate directly from the diocese, in order to equip the property for modern wine production.
Thus began a new journey for the entire property, which, thanks to the dedication and investments of the Blengini family, turned the winery, in just a few years, into one of the stand out wineries in the Monregalesi valleys and nearby Liguria for quality Dolcetto and Moscato production.
After World War II, his son Giuseppe, following in the footsteps of his father, continued making wines from the estate vineyards, and also started breeding Fassona Piemontese cattle.
This decision turned out to be an extremely fortunate one, as with the industrial boom in the late '50s, there was an inevitable growing demand for labor by firms in Turin resulting in the relentless migration of labor to cities that brought about a progressive abandonment of the old vineyards in favor of the more profitable and less labour intensive cattle farming.
On 23 October 1974, the entire area was given the denomination Dolcetto di Langhe Monregalesi DOC.
In 1994, the nephew of Pietro, Pierfranco, together with his wife Maria Teresa and sons Giuseppe e Filippo, motivated by the desire to revive the original spirit of Cascina Monsignore resumed the wine production, focusing on the Dolcetto variety.
On 30 October 2011 the denomination of the Dolcetto di Langhe Monregalesi was merged with that of Dogliani DOCG.
Today, Cascina Monsignore produces two wines both coming from estate-grown grapes in the 2 hectares surrounding the winery: the Dogliani DOCG "Podere del Monsignore" and the Dogliani d.o.c.g. "Vigna del Vescovo"
