Barbera

Barbera is the everyday red of Piedmont and, for a long time, the most planted red grape in Italy. It sits in the shadow of nebbiolo, which takes the best sites in the Langhe, and barbera is planted on the ones left over. That is a commercial fact rather than a judgement on the grape.

Its profile is unusual: very high acidity, deep colour and low tannin. Most red grapes pair high acid with high tannin, so barbera tastes bright and juicy without being astringent, which makes it easy to drink young and a natural food wine. The flavour is sour cherry, red plum and a faint bitterness on the finish. Because it has little tannin of its own, oak changes it a great deal, and the modern barrique-aged style is a very different wine from the traditional one.

Barbera d'Asti and Barbera d'Alba are the two main appellations, with Nizza as a stricter zone inside Asti. It was also widely planted in California, particularly in the Central Valley and Sierra Foothills, where Italian immigrant growers valued its acidity in a hot climate.