Pio Cesare has been making wine in Alba since 1881, and Barbera has been part of the family's cellars for most of that time. This is Barbera d'Alba from the 2021 vintage, a grape that gives Piedmont its everyday red and, in the right hands, something with real weight behind it.
- Barbera, Piedmont's most planted red grape.
- Barbera d'Alba, the hills around Alba.
- 2021, a warm, even vintage in Piedmont.
- 14.5% abv, dry, medium body.
- Low tannin, high acidity.
How it is made
Barbera d'Alba is a DOC appellation, and the rules are strict about the grape: Barbera only, grown on the hills of the Langhe around Alba. Unlike Barolo or Barbaresco, there is no long compulsory ageing, so the wine can keep the fruit forward and the acid bright. The grape itself carries almost no tannin, which is why it drinks the way it does.
How it tastes
Red cherry and blackberry lead, with violet and a note of earth underneath. The acidity is the point: high and bright, cutting through the ripe dark fruit and keeping it from feeling heavy. Oak shows as soft spice rather than a flavour of its own. Low tannin, medium body, dry, and a warm 14.5% that sits quietly in the background.
Good to know
Barbera was long treated as the workhorse of Piedmont, the wine growers drank while their Nebbiolo aged. It ripens reliably where Nebbiolo struggles, and it holds its acidity even in hot years. That acidity is also why the grape survived phylloxera and fashion alike: it is one of the few reds that tastes fresh at 14.5%.
Contains alcohol.
