The Grasso Estate has been in the family for generations, but the modern era began when Elio's father, who
was getting on in years and finding it increasingly difficult to manage the property, decided it was time to sell. Both of his sons had gone off to other professions, one as an architect and Elio to a successful banking career in Turin. Back in the post WWII era, it was not unusual for the younger generation to seek more lucrative work in a profession as opposed to the hard life of running a small family farm. The wine market was quite different in the 50's, 60's and 70's, with low prices and only meager reward for all of the hard work. Never the less, Elio realized that the property was part of his soul, something that was near and dear to him and something he could never let leave the family if at all possible. So he began to come back on weekends and holiday to help his father, and decided he would leave his career in banking and come back to build the family estate. But this was a tough decision - who would leave a great career for the life of a farmer? Elio struggled with it, writing a letter of resignation but putting it in a drawer in his office and never sending it. Elio began to take more and more time, using sick days and calling out to help with the farm. One day, worried that he had been out sick so often, Elio's boss took a drive out to the winery to see how he was doing, and instead found Elio, healthy as a horse out working in the vines. The next day he sent the letter, and he has never looked back since.
Elio saw a vision and the changes coming to the business, and began to transform the property, with its 
excellent vineyard holdings, into the top-notch estate it is today. They began to bottle the Barolos individually as Crus, the replanted where needed, rebuilt and expanded the cellars and spared no expense or amount of labor to make the very best wines they possible could. Today, with Elio's son Gianluca at the helm, the wines are consistently some of the very best year in year out. Their holding in Gavarini Chineria and Ginstra are superb sites, and every wine they make from Chardonnay to Dolcetto and Barbera, Langhe Nebbiolo and the Barolos are beautifully crafted, with a style that is a blend of traditional and modern that produces wines with ample fruit concentration, purity, great energy and nerve, and are refections of the vineyards and grapes they are made from. Truly one of the top wineries of all those we work with, this is a reliable source of world class wines from the everyday affordable to the exquisite, cellar worthy classics.
