The Woman with Barolo in Her Blood

Mar 12

This is the second in our ‘Women in Wine Partners’ series which highlights a handful of the many women who are holding the winery together ‘behind the scenes’ with their male partner who is the main face of the winery’s brand. Our goal is to get this women to the forefront.

Valentina Pallaro with husband Aldo Clerico pouring their Barolo Ginestra Cru made from her Conterno family’s vineyard, during their first trip to the USA, in New York City.

In this article, we are getting to know Aldo Clerico’s wife, Valentina.

Sheila Donohue, founder of Vero, first met Aldo in 2017 at a wine trade fair. The second time she met Aldo, at another wine trade fair, he was also by himself. Then, on further meetings and visits, Valentina would ‘pop out’ with a smiling greeting, and then get back to tending to their 2 young daughters, Martina and Melissa and other family affairs.

It wasn’t until Aldo and Valentina left their 2 daughters behind on a trip to NYC in February 2020 (their first time in the US, by the way), that gave Sheila the opportunity to better get to know Valentina and realized her active role in managing their winery.

To ‘set the stage’ with some fun facts, Aldo and Valentina have a lot of things in common:

1) They are both born and raised and still live in the same town: Monforte d’Alba, just south of the town of Barolo, the namesake for this famous wine region producing some of the best red wines in the world.

2) They are both part of Barolo family dynasties:

Aldo’s dad’s cousin is the late Domenico Clerico, a well known Barolo producer, with vineyards ‘next door’ to one another;
Valentina’s grandfather is Paolo Conterno, one of many well known Conterno family wineries in/around Monforte d’Alba, also producing Barolo.

3) Valentina and Aldo are both laid back and unassuming. Meeting them you wouldn’t know that they have this rich and famous heritage ‘in their blood’'.

4) They both love Barolo, and grew up with it around the house.

Valentina (Conterno) Pallaro

Valentina and Aldo’s winery, Aldo Clerico, is located in their hometown of Monforte d’Alba, in the Langhe area of Piedmont, in Northern Italy. Specializing in red wines local to the area, this estate winery focuses on keeping a small production and high quality, letting the local grapes shine through in their wines. To get some background on this small winery and their wines, you can watch our recent VeroTalk event where we traveled virtually to the Langhe area to have a wine tasting with Valentina’s husband Aldo with a chef demonstrating local dishes live on camera (including one of Valentina’s favorite Barolo pairings she talks about below!).

Now let’s hear Valentina’s story and journey in wine, told in her own words, which we translated to English ;).

Valentina Pallaro, working in her Conterno family vineyard in the sought after Barolo Cru, Ginestra, which is used to make Aldo Clerico Barolo Ginestra red wine.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

My name is Valentina Pallaro, I am 34 years old and come from a Piemontese family. Born and raised in the Langhe, I have always lived in Monforte d'Alba, the native home of my mother Marisa Conterno, a lifelong woman winemaker and daughter of ‘Paolo Conterno’, the famous winery now run by my uncle Giorgio Conterno. My father, now retired, worked for a company in the plumbing industry. My brother Daniele (39 years old) runs my mother’s winery farm in Monforte, in the area known as Ginestra, the famous Barolo Cru. From one of those vineyards, Aldo and I make our treasured Barolo Ginestra wine.

I attended high school in Alba, graduating in 2007 with a specialty in Business Management. When I finished school, first I worked in an accountant’s office in Alba for two years, after which I worked in my family’s business, Paolo Conterno winery, until 2014. During this period, I met Aldo and after a few years we got married, in 2011. After the birth of our first daughter, Martina, in 2014, Aldo and I decided to begin to work together. Our second daughter, Melissa, was born in 2016.

Valentina harvesting in the vineyards with husband Aldo Clerico.

What is your first memory involving your love for wine? When did your love of wine take root?

As a girl, I spent my days in the countryside, in the vineyards of the Ginestra Cru, with my grandparents and family. I had always watched them work in the vineyards and winery, and saw how the work changed with the seasons. When I could, I would follow them in the vineyard to see how they worked. I especially liked to watch the bottling in the winery. And I would offer to help where I could.

Growing up, I was always around people that worked in the world of wine, but I really started to learn about wine when I worked for my family’s estate, Paolo Conterno. This was when I gained a lot of experience working in the wine business, as is normal for someone that works in a small family run business.

What is your favorite wine, and your favorite dish to pair with this wine?

One of my favorite wines is Barolo, as it is not mere coincidence that it has become known as the ‘King of Wine’. However, while not surprising that my favorite wine is Barolo, especially when my own family makes it, I confess that I love to drink Chablis; it has a pronounced acidity, yet is still elegant and soft. No wonder it is considered one of the more famous white wines, especially for Chardonnay.

My favorite dishes to pair with Barolo are entrees such as roasts, braised meats, and filet (get the recipe for Filetto al Barolo here). These dishes allow the decisive, structured flavors of this red piemontese wine to really shine through. With a white Chablis, I like to enjoy fish-based appetizers or pastas.

Life in the Langhe

How did you get involved in the winery?

I always followed my family’s work, even as a child, and I also wanted to become a part of the business to demonstrate my capabilities in running the day to day activities necessary to keep a family business alive. This means that when I began to work with Aldo in his winery, I didn’t change my life or work, I simply changed the place I worked.

What is your role in the winery? Has it changed since the beginning?

I run the back-office, but occasionally I also work alongside Aldo in the winery itself.

How do you decide and share responsibilities with Aldo?

We talk about it together, on a daily basis, what is needed at the moment for the various demands of the business and our clients.

What are the tasks you prefer to delegate?

Being a small family-run business, we all try to make sure we contribute the best work possible. Naturally, having two daughters that are still young, their needs take precedent for me over the business: I delegate when a particular task would conflict with my care of them.

Valentina with husband Aldo, in their Monforte d’Alba estate winery’s barrel room.

Tasting this Woman in Wine’s Work

Naturally, the wine most representing Valentina’s life in the Barolo vineyards is their Barolo Ginestra; if you look closely at the label you’ll see the two small handprints of her two daughters, Martina and Melissa. Also for Aldo, this wine represents the full embodiment of family in Monforte d’Alba, both of their own young family, and uniting the Clericos with the Conternos.

Valentina and Aldo also craft other Barolos, like their Barolo made from vineyards around their home in Monforte d’Alba and their Barolo from Serralunga d’Alba. For a refresher about Barolo red wine and the Barolo wine region, check out this article.

Try other red grapes and wines from Valentina and Aldo’s home of the Langhe, with their Dolcetto from Dogliani, Barbera d’Alba, and Langhe Nebbiolo.

Try the wine tasting sets we have which feature Valentina and Aldo’s wines:

the Barolo Tasting Set (featuring a nebbiolo and Barolo) and
the Langhe Explorer Set (featuring a Dogliani dolcetto, a barbera, and a nebbiolo).

Both sets have shipping included and free shipping for add-ons, like their Barolo Ginestra and Barolo Serralunga d’Alba.