Auriel
Auriel was founded in 2005 by Marta Peloso and her husband, Felice Cappa, in Ponzano Monferrato, in the hills between Asti and Casale. Marta works only with Barbera and Grignolino, two grapes deeply rooted in this part of Piedmont. Auriel began at Cascina Boschi, a farm just outside the village; after leaving it in 2022, Marta now farms two certified-organic vineyards in Ponzano, planted in 2000 and 2012, on very white clay-limestone soils facing south at around 350 meters.
Marta came to wine after an ankle injury ended her years in contemporary dance and Tanztheater. A three-day blind tasting with biodynamic agronomist Leonello Anello became a turning point, and she went on to learn vineyard and cellar work through his “modern biodynamic method.” Her vineyards are certified organic and farmed biodynamically. Marta works to build living soils and a deep connection between the vines’ roots and the ground they grow in, using cover crops, alternating cultivation between rows and biodynamic preparations rather than intervening directly on the plant.
In the cellar, the same philosophy continues. Only healthy, fully ripe grapes are brought in, and fermentations begin spontaneously with the yeasts naturally present on the skins, without temperature control. The wines spend extended time on their skins and lees, are never fined or filtered, and are clarified only through careful racking. Small additions of sulfur are made only when needed, at the final racking several weeks before bottling.
Dance still shapes the way Marta thinks about her work. She says, “Cultivating a vineyard naturally is like dancing between Heaven and Earth.” For her, vineyard and cellar work are deeply physical and creative, requiring effort, attention and a constant search for balance. She chose the image of a dancing figure on the Auriel labels as a visual expression of that philosophy.
