Overview
Barbera d'Asti is a DOCG for red wine based on the Barbera grape, produced across the Monferrato hills in 116 communes of the province of Asti and 51 in the province of Alessandria. The denomination covers roughly 3,560 hectares of vineyard and averages about 161,400 hectolitres of wine a year, on the order of 21 million bottles. Barbera is Piedmont's most planted red variety, accounting for close to a third of the region's vineyard surface, and the Asti hills are its historic heartland: here Barbera occupies the best exposures rather than the secondary sites it is given in Nebbiolo territory. The wine was recognized as a DOC in 1970 and elevated to DOCG in 2008.
History
Barbera enters the documentary record with the 1798 ampelography of Piedmontese varieties compiled by Count Giuseppe Nuvolone-Pergamo of the agricultural society of Turin, which listed the grape growing in the Monferrato. Through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries it became the everyday red of Piedmont, planted widely and mostly consumed young. The modern reappraisal dates from 1982, when Giacomo Bologna of the Braida estate in Rocchetta Tanaro made the first vintage of Bricco dell'Uccellone, a low-yield, single-hillside Barbera aged in French barriques; the model was widely imitated and repositioned the grape as a serious wine. Barbera d'Asti received its DOC in 1970; in 2000 three subzones, Nizza, Tinella and Colli Astiani, were written into the rules for the Superiore category; DOCG status followed in 2008. In 2014 Nizza was carved out as an independent DOCG, taking many of the zone's flagship bottlings with it.
Terroir & Climate
The production zone spans the hill country of the Monferrato on both sides of the Tanaro river, with vineyard elevation capped at 650 metres under the rules; most sites lie between about 150 and 400 metres. Soils across the zone are predominantly calcareous clays and marls, with sandier sectors, and the climate is continental, with hot summers and significant day-night temperature swings on the hilltops. Barbera's naturally high acidity holds even at full ripeness, which allows the variety to perform across the zone's range of warm, well-exposed slopes.
Grape Varieties & Wine Styles
Barbera d'Asti must contain at least 90 percent Barbera; up to 10 percent of other non-aromatic red varieties authorized in Piedmont is permitted, in practice Freisa, Grignolino or Dolcetto. The base wine requires a minimum 12 percent alcohol and four months of aging from November 1 after the harvest. Superiore requires 14 months, of which at least 6 in wood, and 12.5 percent alcohol. The Tinella and Colli Astiani subzones, reserved for Superiore, require 24 months of aging with at least 6 in wood and 6 in bottle, and 13 percent alcohol. Nizza, since 2014 a separate DOCG, requires 100 percent Barbera and 18 months of aging including 6 in oak.
Barbera gives deeply colored wine with high acidity and low tannin. Styles run from steel-raised versions built on fresh dark fruit and drinkability to barrique-aged Superiore bottlings with spice, extract and medium-term aging capacity.
Notable Producers
Braida di Giacomo Bologna in Rocchetta Tanaro remains the reference estate, with Bricco dell'Uccellone produced since 1982. Vietti farms the La Crena vineyard at Agliano Terme, planted in 1932. Michele Chiarlo and Coppo, both long-established houses of the zone, produce Barbera d'Asti across several levels. Cascina Castlèt in Costigliole d'Asti is known for the appassimento-style Passum. Marchesi Alfieri at San Martino Alfieri produces the barrique-aged Alfiera Superiore.
What to Know
Barbera d'Asti and Barbera d'Alba are governed differently: Alba's DOC permits up to 15 percent Nebbiolo in the blend, while Asti's permitted minority grapes are Freisa, Grignolino and Dolcetto, and in Asti Barbera occupies the prime hillsides rather than ceding them to Nebbiolo. Since the 2014 spin-off, many former flagship Barbera d'Asti Superiore wines are now labeled Nizza DOCG, so top single-vineyard bottlings from communes around Nizza Monferrato have left the denomination's statistics without leaving its territory. The DOCG spans a wide quality band, from high-volume commercial wine to serious single-vineyard Superiore; category (base versus Superiore versus subzone) and producer are the reliable guides. High acidity with low tannin is the structural signature to expect regardless of style.