Pelassa became a commercial wine producer in 1960, when the barely 20-year-old Mario Pelassa took as many bottles of the family’s Nebbiolo as he could fit into his motorcycle panniers and drove to Turin, hoping to sell them. The family had for generations run a farm and vineyard for their own use in the town of Monta d’Alba, but Mario was the first to sell the family wine commercially. His sales mission that day in 1960 was a success, and soon the Pelassa family was in the wine business. More than 50 years later Mario still works the vineyards with his wife Maria Teresa and their sons, Davide and Daniele. Pelassa grows Nebbiolo, Barbera and Arneis, and makes about a dozen red and white wines. Their wines have won numerous awards including a Silver Medal in the 2017 Decanter World Wine Awards for the 2012 Antaniolo Roero Riserva, which also earned 92 pts from Decanter.