The documents of the Corino family in Costigliole d’Asti date back to the early 1800s with Corino Biagio, from Montegrosso d’Asti.
His activity as a carpenter and farmer continued with his son Battista, also a floriculturist, in a place called “Case Corini” as per the map. The original houses, built mainly with “raw” bricks and wooden beams, were demolished in the fifties after being transferred to another property.
Battista, in 1898, according to the historical sources found, even before the current home, had a votive pillar erected on the crossroads of the street in front, which is still part of the entrance fence to the courtyard today [1]. A gesture made to thank for the escaped danger occurred to his nephew who suffered an accident while traveling on a chariot pulled by a horse. He named it after San Martino, protector of wine; therefore, it is clear that the family already at that time also produced wine among its livelihoods.
Corino Luigi, Battista’s son, in addition to taking care of the farm, had achieved the profession of artisan watchmaker after attending sector workshops in Milan and Geneva. Using a pedal lathe, he produced from ivory matrixes (usually splintered and therefore unusable and inexpensive billiard balls) models in which he subsequently inserted all the mechanics to build the watches, usually pocket models. His activity was also consolidated with a shop in Costigliole and another in Nizza Monferrato.
Certainly this success, also economic, was fundamental for the construction of the new house in San Martino street that his son Vincenzo completed in the rural part in 1901.
Corino Vincenzo (known as Centin from which one of the wines produced by the company takes its name today) expands the house with a rural part in 1901 and continues the agricultural activity very carefully. Notorious was his ability and dedication in the care of fields, vineyards and animals. His refinement in producing high quality wines was well known but, in his historical period (mid 50s of the ‘900) not rightly recognized by the market.
Pietro, one of Vincenzo’s sons, after two decades working in the construction field, returned to his paternal farm in 1944, where he settled with his wife Leonilda Zari.
The farm thus finds new vigor and continuity; the cultivation of hemp, wheat, chard, fodder, maize, vegetables as well as cattle and farmyard animals continues alongside grapes and wine. With Pietro, better known as Pierino, the secular activity of polyculture ended in the late sixties. His son Luigi found a job in FIAT and settled in Turin.
His son Lorenzo concluded his studies in Agronomy in 1972. The collaboration with his parents in the farm activities continued until the end of the ‘80s, when Lorenzo purchased new land, which once belonged to the Case Corini estate, in order to renovate and enlarge the business. This investment allowed him not just to expand the company’s vineyard area, but led also to a cellar development and new staff insertion in the company management.
In just a few years, his qualities as a “Vigneron”, in combination with a great dissemination ability of both a scientific and historical-cultural nature, allowed the company, starting from the early ‘90s, to lay the foundations for the first foreign high quality wine market, as it began to export in Massachusetts (USA) and Japan. This brave and forerunner choice for the market of Italian artisan wines still guarantees a solid future for the company nowadays.
From the early 2000s, Lorenzo’s son Guido and later Luisa began to support him in the company. A long and passionate journey that has allowed both to deeply understand the business choices of a father who is a researcher, winemaker and dreamer. The development of the company has continued in a linear, coherent and authentic way and nowadays the company can boast about the achievement of a foreign market extended to the main wine consuming countries.
Lorenzo, after a long illness, passed away on November 4, 2021, Luisa and Guido carry on the company by treasuring his teachings.
[1] Note sui piloni votivi nel Basso Monferrato / Franco Zampicinini. – all’interno di Studi piemontesi / Centro studi piemontesi.