Barbera d 'Asti: from inn wine to"ambassador of Monferrato

Barbera d'Asti: from inn wine to "ambassador" of Monferrato

Few wines have the ability to express the folk soul of an area as well as Barbera! An osteria wine par excellence, in the noble sense of the word. A wine with a pleasant rustic character that today also charms surprising personalities of nobility.

Barbera is on the hunt for revenge for its misrecognition in a distant past, without giving up its label of humble wine for the bar. For today, the osteria in Piedmont also expresses a new value, as a place of wine culture, without betraying the spirit of the past. "Barbera and Champagne, tonight we drink..." Do you remember Giorgio Gaber in this famous song?  It marks the beginning of a new era for this rugged wine, which today is nevertheless dedicated to elegance. Barbera and Champagne, the inn wine that goes hand in hand with the international aristocracy of bubbles. Or rather, the representation of a famous motto of Gaber's time: the working class goes to heaven.  And Barbera has made it to heaven, for today certain bottles of its Superiore Docg version (d'Asti and Monferrato Superiore) bring in prices that approach and sometimes surpass those of Champagne.

Today, more than ever, Barbera - for that is how it is described in the feminine sense - is the right leitmotif for getting to know the most beautiful regions of Piedmont. We are in Monferrato, where the landscape is a synthesis of harmonies, with the gentle curves of its hills and its villages of stone and brick that seem to stand still in time, witnesses to an era, a sensibility, notes of poetry.

 A landscape that is also human. The same landscape that served as a backdrop for the songs of Paolo Conte, the novels of Cesare Pavese, the stories of Mario Soldati, all children of this land that enchants. It is no coincidence that Monferrato was recently included in the UNESCO World Heritage list, along with the nearby Langhe and Roero, forming a mosaic of beauty. A sublime landscape where the vine is queen and where the Barbera still embodies the Piedmontese way of life. Noble with humility, discreet, secluded.

The never forgotten Gino Veronelli predicted a great future for the Barbera, so enamored of this wine from the farmer with so many unspoken values. Values that have evolved over time, to go better with the other gastronomic treasures of this area: Robiola di Roccaverano DOP, Piedmontese Fassona beef, bagna cauda and, why not, truffles from nearby Alba.

Barbera is grown in a vast area, allowing it to be used in many ways without compromising its identity. Barbera has been freed from its humble past (often mistreated to the point of being used even as an assemblage wine) thanks to more evolved processing techniques, in the vineyard and in the cellar. Thanks to the passion it generates. Barbera is a ready-made wine with pronounced acidity in its basic version, usually vinified in steel, but comes into its own when aged in barriques or large oak casks and can boast the appellation "Superiore".

Barbera in which spicy notes of vanilla and cocoa can be detected, which come on top of the classic notes of a bouquet of red fruits such as cherries, blackberries, raspberries and plums. The Barbera Superiore, a wine that is also suitable for long storage thanks to its pronounced acidity, produces round, velvety nectars with great complexity.

There was a need for a Barbera that could become the ambassador of this chosen land, that is, the territory of the Consortium of Barbera d'Asti and Monferrato Docg wines. Thus was born the name "Nizza", even more recognizable and stronger, closely linked to the territory.

"A short name, easy to remember - underlines the president of the Consortium Filippo Mobrici - who has a very strong link with this beautiful land". Nizza Docg is one of the top wines of the Consortium for Barbera d'Asti Docg. It should be recalled that the area protected by the Consortium includes the production of 9 Doc and 4 Docg wines. Quality is the verb that has changed the face of the wines of this beautiful area of Piedmont. Quality in the bottle that has also managed to give a future to the historical social wineries present.

"With 13 protected appellations - notes President Mobrici - more than 65 million bottles and more than 11 thousand hectares of vineyards, the Consortium of Barbera d'Asti and Monferrato wines represents well the whole of Monferrato which, especially in recent years, is also becoming a further driving force for the Unesco area in terms of tourism and culture. Even in a 2020 marked by the pandemic crisis, the sector has held its own, as shown by the +1.22% of bottled wine compared to 2019.

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