Morando

Morando is the big neighbour — Casa Vinicola Morando, a Costigliole d'Asti operation that's been bottling wine for over a century, grown from a small cellar around Calosso into a few hundred people and a yard where tanker trucks queue at the gate. The range is broad and everyday: Barbera, Dolcetto d'Alba, a Brachetto, a spread of Piemonte reds and whites, the Tradition Bubbles sparkling line and a few aromatised wine-based drinks.

This is production at scale, not a cellar-door — the office keeps weekday hours, Monday to Friday morning and afternoon, and there's no tasting room to wander into (the online reviews are mostly hauliers rating the loading bay). Nearly nine thousand Vivino ratings put it at 3.4, about right for honest, widely-poured bottles you'll spot on shelves across the region. More at morando.com.