Costigliole Ride and Wine Discovering the territory by bike

There are territories that ask to be explored, and Costigliole d’Asti is certainly one of them: its hills change at every turn, as do the vine rows, which create ever-changing patterns, and behind every wine there are people, vineyards, and wineries that no postcard can fully capture.

The project offers seven cycling routes and fourteen events through autumn.

Costigliole Ride and Wine was created precisely to bridge this gap: not just to show the landscape, but to let you step inside it, pedal stroke after pedal stroke and sip after sip.

The project offers seven cycling routes and fourteen events through autumn. You start from the Castle of Costigliole, cycle with a guide through vineyards, hamlets, and scenic viewpoints, and stop at wineries to meet the producers, taste, and share a light lunch.

It’s promoted by the association Noi di Costigliole – Produttori di Barbera, which brings together 33 wine producers and two distilleries.

To understand where the idea came from, what makes it different from a regular e-bike excursion, and what ambition it carries, we visited president Lorenzo Gozzelino at Bricco Lu.

Lorenzo, let’s start with an image: what happens when a participant arrives at the Castle of Costigliole?

Lorenzo — The day begins at the Castle, which is our meeting point and somewhat the symbol of the town. From there, a loop route starts: the cycling guide accompanies the group throughout the experience, and along the way you encounter three wineries. There are two tastings and a stop for light lunch, then you return to the Castle in the late afternoon.

The sequence of stops tells only part of the experience. The beauty is what happens between one winery and another: you cross vineyards, discover back roads, hamlets, and views that often escape even those who live nearby. It’s not a series of tastings lined up, it’s an entire day immersed in the territory.

From the outside, the formula seems almost inevitable: bikes, hills, and wine. Where does the idea actually come from?

Lorenzo — It comes from a previous, smaller experience with e-bikes in the vineyard. The idea was appealing, but the organizational model was fragile: bad weather was enough to cause cancellations, while bike rental costs remained.

Instead of abandoning everything, we tried to understand what wasn’t working and redesign the offering. We expanded the project across the territory, scheduled more dates, involved wineries on a rotating basis, and worked to manage logistics more directly.

From a single vineyard tour we moved to a network of routes and wineries: that’s where Ride and Wine found its form.

Why the bicycle specifically? What does it let you understand about Costigliole that you’d miss from a car?

Lorenzo — The bike has the right pace. It’s fast enough to connect different areas, but slow enough to let you notice how the terrain changes, the scent of a vineyard, or a votive chapel.

In a car, many details stay outside the window. On foot, it would be difficult to cover the same distance in a day.

The e-bike, recommended for tackling the elevation changes more comfortably, makes the experience accessible even to those who aren’t trained cyclists. Here, cycling is a means, not an athletic performance: it’s about entering the landscape.

The name includes the journey and the wine. Yet, listening to you, it seems the third decisive element is the producers.

Lorenzo — That’s exactly right. The producers don’t simply wait for the group behind the tasting counter: they walk you through the vine rows and tell you firsthand what you’re seeing.

A vineyard changes completely when the person who cultivates it explains why it was planted there, what challenges a certain exposure brings, or what family history is tied to a winery.

The visitor doesn’t just encounter a label, but the work behind a product, a story.

The visitor doesn’t just encounter a label, but the work behind a product, a story. This direct relationship is the most authentic part of the project and also the one that can’t be replicated with a simple GPS track.

Seven routes, each with a name and identity. Why not simply create seven numbered tracks?

Lorenzo — Because each route tells a different story. Radici di Pietra speaks of the connection to hamlets and the oldest architecture, Colori Vivi encounters creativity and murals, Onde di Vigna follows the movement of the vine rows, Panorami Aperti takes your gaze far, all the way to Monviso.

Grande Pausa revolves around the Big Bench at Bricco Lu, while Oltre le Mura weaves together landscape, biodiversity, and symbolic places. Finally, Rintocchi Antichi crosses votive chapels and rural memory.

Giovanni Chiera from Granda Bike Tour is the one we have to thank for the extraordinary work he did in mapping the routes, truly knowing these hills. Giving them names means offering a narrative choice, not just a distance-based one: everyone can start from the type of territory they want to encounter.

The project also solves a problem with wine tourism: arriving in the area and finding the wineries closed.

Lorenzo — Yes, and it’s a less romantic but fundamental aspect. Those who visit a wine region, especially on weekends, don’t always know which wineries are open or available to welcome them. With Ride and Wine, openings are scheduled: on a given date, the wineries involved know a group will arrive and can prepare properly.

For a producer, it makes a big difference to know in advance whether to welcome five people or a larger group; for the tourist, it means not leaving things to chance. We want this rotation to become a guarantee of hospitality and, over time, a good habit for the entire territory.

To get this far, it was necessary to convince very different wineries to move in the same direction. Was that the hardest part?

Lorenzo — Bringing together so many different operations is never automatic. Our association was founded about six years ago precisely with the goal of uniting producers and giving more strength to Barbera di Costigliole.

At first, when faced with a new project, some hesitation is normal: it requires time, presence, and the willingness to open the doors of your work.

The participation of the more established wineries gave confidence to the others, and today over twenty operations are directly involved in Ride and Wine. The important thing is that working together doesn’t erase differences: each winery keeps its own character and soul, but the territory becomes more recognizable when it can present itself with a common voice.

Who is the ideal participant? Do you need to be more passionate about cycling or wine?

Lorenzo — You don’t have to choose. The project is designed for those who love cycling, for those who are curious about wine and local products, and, above all, for those seeking a different way to discover a territory.

You can participate with your own bicycle, though an e-bike is recommended, or choose the package that includes rental.

You can participate with your own bicycle, though an e-bike is recommended, or choose the package that includes rental. We’re not necessarily looking for athletes: we’re looking for people interested in taking a day, stopping, listening, and tasting.

Even those who already know Costigliole can discover roads and wineries never visited before. The value lies precisely in bringing together audiences that often travel separately: cycling tourists and wine tourists.

The first season has already presented you with some challenges. What is it teaching you?

Lorenzo — It’s teaching us that an outdoor project must be able to adapt. Intense heat affected some of the early dates and there were cancellations; initial numbers weren’t always what we hoped for. But it’s precisely a first season that tells you what to adjust.

We’re considering, for example, shorter formats during the hottest periods: a morning with lunch or an experience that starts with lunch and continues into the afternoon. The full-day format remains very appealing, especially in milder seasons, but flexibility can help us welcome more people without compromising the project.

So the ambition goes beyond this year’s calendar. Where would you like to get to?

The biggest goal is to make the town a reference point for wine tourism in the Asti area.

Lorenzo — We’d like to reach a recognizable and ongoing offering, to the point of having almost every Sunday an opportunity to discover Costigliole through its wineries. The biggest goal is to make the town a reference point for wine tourism in the Asti area.

When people mention Barolo or Barbaresco, many immediately associate those places with a specific experience; it’s not about copying them, but about building a strong identity here too, tied to Barbera d’Asti, our landscape, and the way we welcome visitors.

If visitors arrive, the benefit doesn’t just affect the wineries: it involves restaurants, accommodations, shops, and the entire community.

When a participant returns to the Castle at the end of the day, what would you like them to take away?

Lorenzo — I’d like them to remember the people even before the bottles. To be able to connect a wine to a face, to a vine row, to a story heard along the way.

Of course we hope they’ll talk about the experience, share a photo, leave a review, and recommend Costigliole to others. But the best outcome would be to see them return, perhaps to visit one of the wineries they encountered more leisurely or to try another of the seven routes.

If they leave with a bottle in their luggage and a piece of the territory in their memory, then Ride and Wine has truly done its job.