April 30, 2010 I lost a great friend. And a great winemaker. Alfredo Currado, husband of Luciana Vietti, and father of current Vietti winemaker Luca Currado, succumbed to pneumonia after a twelve-year struggle with Parkinson’s Disease.
I first met Alfredo in 1981. Mary (now my wife) and I had just met that year, and we decided to visit Piedmont that fall, where we first met Alfredo and Luciana and their three children. The youngest one, 12-year-old Luca, was destined to be the winemaker, but we didn’t have a clue at the time. He was just a shy young boy then.
With the years, we bonded closely with the Vietti/Currado family. Not only did we love their wines, but we also loved the family. We spent many important occasions with them: Easter Sunday; weddings (Luca’s); funerals (Alfredo’s mother); grandchildren’s christenings; summer holidays on the Italian Riviera; and our favorite, holidays—both summer and winters, in Pontechianale, a village in the Italian Alps, bordering France.
I vividly remember hiking in those Italian Alps with Alfredo and Luciana. He was so strong. Despite the fact that he was the oldest in our group, Alfredo was the fastest hiking up the mountain, even with the heaviest backpack, loaded with his wines, salami, cheeses, tins of Italian tuna, and fresh bread. A mountain goat, we called him!
Vietti always made great Barolo wines, especially the Rocche Vineyard (always Alfredo’s favorite) and his Villero Riserva. Alfredo made the 1996 Barolos; those two will remain as part of his legacy. Luca gradually took over as winemaker in 1998-00, and Alfredo’s illness slowly took charge of his life.
Vietti’s Barberas are state-of-the-art. I think that its Barbera d’Asti La Crena, along with the Vietti home vineyard, Barbera d’Alba Scarrone (especially the old vineyard, Vigna Vecchia) are as good as Barbera can be.
Good-bye, old friend. I love you, and I will miss you.
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