Valchiusella, Reclaimed: Costantino Hurjui
On steep terraces above Ivrea, a former operating-theatre assistant and his family are bringing abandoned vineyards back to life — farming by hand, moving grapes only by gravity and making wines that keep the wild, wooded valley in view.
Valchyara began almost at garagiste scale. Before wine, Costantino Hurjui spent nearly fifteen years in operating theatres as a ferrista, the assistant responsible for surgical instruments. Studies in oenology developed alongside a growing passion for low-intervention wines and, eventually, the possibility of a different working life.
The early wines were made with help from friends in the Giovani Vignaioli Canavesani network, sharing equipment and knowledge. In 2017, the family began cultivating and vinifying its own project on a marginal slope near Loranzè Alto, below Lake Alice and looking towards Ivrea. Clearing long-abandoned terraces revealed old Croatina, Freisa and Nebbiolo vines; Erbaluce and Nebbiolo had been rooted in this landscape since the late nineteenth century.
In 2020 they restored the farmhouse and created their own small cellar. The first wine to carry the Valchyara name arrived that same year, closing the loop between estate vines, on-site transformation and the finished label. Growth has remained deliberately limited: in 2025 Costantino reported roughly three productive hectares, with the final piece of reclamation still approached cautiously.
The Place — Terraces Above Ivrea
Valchyara belongs to the Ivrea morainic amphitheatre, where vines occupy steep, dry-stone terraces rather than easy open rows. Forest, water and mixed planting are part of the farm’s structure, not scenery around it. The vineyards look south-east, gathering light while remaining ventilated.
Pedanea & Val di Chy
The reclaimed vineyards sit around the farmhouse on the valley’s morainic slopes. Individual parcels are documented around 490–500 metres, with south-east exposure and sub-acid morainic soils. Dry-stone walls hold the terraces; steepness makes manual work unavoidable.
Old Vines, New Plantings
Clearing the terraces uncovered Croatina, Freisa and Nebbiolo worth preserving. New vineyards planted between 2017 and 2021 added to that base. Erbaluce remains the key white, while Riesling — vinified since 2021 after experience in France — adds another alpine voice.
A Working Ecosystem
Vines remain naturally grassed, with fruit trees, broadleaf woodland and fruiting shrubs retained in and around the plots. The family are also beekeepers. A spring by the farmhouse supplies water for agriculture, the home and winemaking, with seasonal potability testing.
One Site, One Air
Grapes are grown, harvested, vinified and aged on site; nothing is sent elsewhere for transformation. Costantino treats the air surrounding the vine and cellar as part of terroir. The cellar’s two underground levels allow every movement, including destemming and crushing, to happen by gravity.
The Work — Hands in the Vineyard, Gravity Below
The farming draws on biodynamic and regenerative principles without certified-organic status. Soil management, vegetation work and harvest are manual; small brush cutters or rotary tillers are used only where necessary. Low-volume backpack sprayers allow careful drift control on the confined terraces.
The cellar is built around subtraction. Fermentations and malolactic conversions are spontaneous, and no pumps are used to move grapes, must or pomace. Wines remain on their lees until bottling, are not filtered, and undergo tartaric stabilisation outdoors during winter. Sulphites are added only at bottling.
That restraint does not mean ideological rigidity. Costantino explicitly avoids calling viticulture “natural”, while still placing the project within the natural-wine movement. The practical aim is simpler: healthy raw material, direct handling and wines free to show variation rather than being polished into sameness.
The Wines — Five Ways Into the Valley
The range favours single varieties over blends: Erbaluce and Riesling for whites, Croatina, Freisa and Nebbiolo for reds. All share spontaneous fermentation, unfiltered bottling and sulphites only at bottling. The notes below are vintage-specific; methods and availability can change from year to year.
Morenico 2023
Nebbiolo — 14% volThe estate’s best-selling red: 100% Nebbiolo, given twelve months in tonneaux with measured extraction. The emphasis falls on fruit and drinkability rather than weight, producing a Nebbiolo designed for the table.
Incipit 2022
Old-Vine CroatinaOld-vine Croatina rested for six months in barrique followed by twelve months in bottle. Fresh and varietally direct, it makes a particularly natural partner for the local salame-patata.
Clandestino 2023
Freisa — 13.5% volA pure Freisa from steep morainic vineyards, freely expressive and lightly volatile. Circular tannic-saline texture and vivid acidity lead the wine; fruit is present but deliberately not the centre of attention.
Giallo di Chy
Erbaluce — Vino BiancoThe white that accompanied Valchyara’s first red, built from the valley’s signature Erbaluce. Like the rest of the range, it ferments spontaneously, stays on its lees until bottling and goes into bottle unfiltered.
Riesling Metodo Classico 2021
Riesling — 24 Months AgedSpontaneously fermented Riesling, aged for twenty-four months and made sparkling with must from the following vintage. Almost imperceptibly extra-dry, it is tense and vibrant, with residual sweetness supporting rather than obscuring the grape’s aromatics.
Why It Matters — Restoration Without Erasure
Valchyara’s first achievement is agricultural recovery. Abandoned terraces are being returned to production without clearing away the woodland, mixed planting and uneven beauty that make the valley distinctive. Each dry-stone wall rebuilt is both working infrastructure and cultural memory.
The second is a complete local chain. Vine, harvest, fermentation, ageing and bottling remain on the same site. That continuity gives the idea of terroir a practical definition: the grapes never leave the air, water or hands that shaped them.
Finally, the project offers a measured model for natural wine. It is low-intervention without being doctrinaire, ambitious without equating success with endless growth. Costantino’s past appears on the labels, but the wines look forward: a first-generation farm built to remain small enough to care for properly.