La Caudrina farms Barbera in the hills around Nizza Monferrato, the corner of Piedmont that pushed the grape out of the everyday jug and into its own DOCG. Nizza is a small zone, and the rules are strict: Barbera only, lower yields, and a longer minimum ageing before the wine can carry the name. Montevenere is the estate's single-site bottling, and this is the magnum.
- Barbera, Piedmont's own red grape.
- Nizza DOCG, the zone's tightest Barbera rules.
- 2019, a warm vintage across Piedmont.
- 1.5L magnum, twice the standard bottle.
- 14.5% abv, dry, full bodied.
How it is made
Barbera has almost no colour-giving tannin in its skins, which is why the grape spent a century being drunk young and cheap. Nizza changed the terms: the appellation limits where it can be grown, cuts the crop back, and holds the wine longer before release. The result is a Barbera built for the cellar rather than the carafe.
How it tastes
Red cherry and plum, a violet lift, and baking spice from the wood. The acid is the point of the grape and it is high here, cutting straight through the fruit. Tannin is medium, firm rather than soft. Full in the mouth, dry, and warm on the finish at 14.5%.
Good to know
Nizza was granted its own DOCG in 2014, separating the best Barbera sites from the wider Barbera d'Asti. A magnum ages more slowly than a standard bottle, so the wine inside is younger than its vintage suggests.
