When I stop to look at vines, maybe after a long day of work in the vineyards, I feel tired but happy. Happy to be able to continue the work begun with great efforts by grandfather Pinutin and, before him, by my great - grandmother Valentina and and, before her, by Richeta. I am proud of witnessing the growth of buds, leaves and grapes, which then give life to my wine.
A wine as I really want it to be, which I have dreamt of, and produced in a way that could transmit to my friends a little bit of me, of my own history and of my Land.
Enrico Orlando
Ca' Richeta is a recent wine estate since created in the early 2000s by Enrico Orlando, oenologist and Viticulture and Oenology teacher at Istituto Tecnico Agrario Umberto I in Alba. But it is, in reality, a very old estate because Morando -Orlando family is involved over 200 years in wine production.
Ca’Richeta is located, today as in the past, in the Langhe area, Castiglione Tinella village.
Ca'Richeta – early 1950s photo
At the end of the 1800s, the Morando family's properties extended for over 60 hectares (about 150 acres) mostly planted with vines; the advent of the 1900s and the two World Wars deeply marked the Morandos and their properties: during and after the First World War Enrichetta (Richeta) Amandola Morando and her young daughter-in-law Valentina - widow with four babies to bring up - carried on the wine production with passion and dedication to preserve the family and - to do that - they were forced to sell a part of their vineyards.
After the Second World War, it was Giuseppe (Pinutin) Morando, one of Valentina's sons, who took over the family business and bought back part of the vineyards sold. He will not be succeeded by one of his daughters, but by the eldest of his grandchildren, Enrico Orlando, who not only inherited the name of his determined great-great-grandmother Enrichetta, but also the devotion to the land of his ancestors.
After his graduation in Oenological Technique from the University of Turin, Enrico gained experiences in the wine sector working in several Italian and foreign wineries (France, Spain and California), then he came back to Castiglione Tinella taking over control of all aspects of production, from the vines to the bottle. Following his grandfather example, Enrico Orlando in the last twenty years bought part of the vineyards which had been properties of his family in the past.
Enrico decided to dedicate the family estate to the courage and perseverance of his great-great-grandmother Enrichetta, thus naming the company: Ca 'Richeta (in Piedmontese dialect: Casa di Enrichetta).