For Giusto ‘the vineyard is like our life’s savings in the bank, so we must protect it’. Protecting it means that COS works Organically (certified in 2007) and Biodynamically in order to support the health of the soil. The vineyard has been synthetic and chemical free since 1980. Giusto and his vineyard team prepare most of the Biodynamic treatments in house.

Giusto seeks to have the transparency of the soil conveyed into the wines themselves. To that end, he did extensive research on aging vessels and eventually decided on a combination of 440-liter clay amphorae sourced from Spain along with a collection of large neutral botti and also concrete tanks (latter mostly for the Frappato). The clay is porous like oak but has the advantage that it imparts less flavor to the wine than does even large, old casks. All aging at the winery is done in one of these vessels. Stainless steel is only used for assembling the wine prior to bottling. For many of the wines, the juice remains in contact with the skins for extended periods, even for whites. Giusto feels these extended macerations help the wine obtain natural preservatives which in turn allows them do the aging and élévage with little or no added Sulphur until the bottling when there is only a small addition.