Robe — Vivid ruby with purple rims, deep but translucent
dark cherry
violet
plum
black pepper
balsamic herbs
Palate
High acidity and low tannin make it juicy and immediate where nebbiolo demands patience
Ageing
3–12 years
Serving
15–16 °C
For generations barbera was Piedmont's everyday wine — the carafe on the worker's table while nebbiolo went down to the cellar. It is nebbiolo's opposite in build: dark of colour, high in acid, low in tannin, all dark cherry and violet, drinkable in its youth where Barolo demands a decade.
Its promotion was earned. In 1982 Giacomo Bologna raised old-vine barbera in new French barriques and called the wine Bricco dell'Uccellone; it showed what concentration and oak could hang on that acid frame, and a generation of growers followed. In 2008 Barbera d'Asti was elevated to DOCG — the table wine become serious without losing the quality that made it loved: it goes with dinner.