1974: Claudio Bonichi Barbaresco 1971 Masseria

Right from the outset, at our first encounter in Monchiero, Claudio Bonichi came across as a really likeable, quite unique character. He loved to define himself as an “immigrant in the Langhe with colonialist tendencies”, capable as he was of driving all the way from Rome in a Fiat 500 just to join his friends here.

Born in 1943, Claudio Bonichi gave his first exhibition in Savona in 1964, and in the early ’70s he drew attention to himself as an original, witty illustrator of editions of Voltaire’s Candide and Angela Beldì’s “Tavole Incantate” published by the Turin art connoisseur Mario Fogola.

We are indebted to him – as we are to Gianni Gallo – for his precious advice and the huge helping of enthusiasm without which our initial project could have remained nothing more than just a dream.

Claudio Bonichi chose to prepare an xylograph for us, from a wood engraving portraying a “barbaresco” (an old name for the Saracens) who is kidnapping a naked girl, carrying her away on his shoulders.

A very clean and linear, but also very strong image, it paid due respect to the 3,182 bottles of our Barbaresco Masseria produced in 1971.