ASOTOM

Tommaso is a self-taught winemaker who found his calling in the vineyards after studying construction planning and realizing an office job was not for him. The origin of the name ASOTOM is a curious one. On his first day of elementary school, Tommaso was asked to write his name on a label; he first wrote “TOM,” and, when he ran out of space, he wrote “ASO” above forgetting the second M. He started to make wine in 2005 after finding an old, abandoned vineyard in Castelletto Merli in the Monferrato wine region of Piemonte. After bringing it back to life, he planted additional grape vines to reach about 3.5 hectares (~8.5 acres) of organic-certified vineyards. Tommaso and his partner, Sara, consider themselves farmers and, in addition to wine, also make olive oil and honey. They employ biodynamic farming using natural products to strengthen the vines against fungal disease and do not perform any weed management. While Tommaso works in the cellar, Sara handles all administrative and promotional activities, and, also, manually adds the finishing touches to the wine labels. They produce about 10,000 bottles (~830 cases) per year of Barbera, Freisa, Grignolino, Moscato Nero, Timorasso, and Cortese; all native grape varieties.