The estate's basic Barolo, created from grapes grown in all of the Massolino vineyards, has been in production since 1911 and is still consistent in its excellent quality, even in difficult vintages. The single-vineyard Barolo Margheria and Barolo Vigna Rionda Riserva were both produced for the first time in the 1980's. The Margheria cru imparts woodland notes that are accentuated by traditional vinification methods, while the unique terroir of the Vigna Rionda enables the production of wines with a potential rarely found elsewhere.
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With the advanced state of the overripe grapes of 1959 dehydrating on the vines, Ferrari had the Primitivo grapes trucked up to his Piemonte vinification center. At the time he had calculated the potential alcohol content to be 21% and expected to create a historically big, high alcohol wine. He had the print shops develop the labels with the estimated alcohol content and began to prepare his distribution. However, during a rapid temperature change in the cool hills of Novara, fermentation stopped at about 14%, leaving residual sugar and a sweetness to the wines. Realizing what had happened and envisioning the wines destiny, he placed the juice for ten years in the best Slovenian casks he could find before leaving it for another 35 years in a cement cask at the Ferrari winery.
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