Tommaso Cappa is a young enology graduate who did something quietly radical: he bought a small farmhouse and a 40-year-old vineyard in the hamlet of Valdibà, Dogliani, with his parents — and decided to make wine on his own terms. The vineyard sits at 370 meters, west-facing, on marly soils that have shaped Dolcetto in this corner of Piedmont for generations. He tends every vine by hand, uses no chemical herbicides or synthetic fertilizers, and produces around 1,700 bottles per vintage. That's not a typo. This is as small as it gets.

His day job — vineyard foreman overseeing biodynamic research at Ceretto, one of the Langhe's most historic estates — gives him a technical foundation that shows in every careful decision. But Tommaso Cappa the label is something else entirely: personal, unhurried, and completely free from commercial pressure.

Everything here is deliberate and minimal. Grapes are harvested by hand and fermented spontaneously in steel using almost entirely whole clusters — no added yeasts, no adjustments, no shortcuts. Fermentation runs for about 17 days before the wine moves to small, exhausted barrels for a year of aging. No fining, no filtration. Sulfur levels at bottling are kept as low as possible. The flagship Dogliani DOCG is 100% Dolcetto — a grape Tommaso believes is the truest vehicle for expressing what this specific hillside can give. He also produces a small amount of Nebbiolo, further proof that he farms this land as a whole rather than a single-variety operation.

Tommaso Cappa is the winemaker, farmer, and sole force behind this project. His partner Agnese, a professional architect, has helped shape the estate's vision and physical space. This is a two-person operation producing fewer bottles per year than most wineries produce in a single tank.