Where is barbera grown

Stay tuned with our weekly newsletter. Vintages Home Vintages in Decades. Red Wine. White Wine. Crisp and Dry Rich and Fruity. Critics Home Featured Critics. Awards Home Featured Awards. Barbera Grapes. Based on scores from a wide range of critics.

Barbera d'Alba. Barbera d'Asti. Vajra Barbera d'Alba, Piedmont, Italy. To see how Wine-Searcher uses average pricing and professional wine critic scores on this page, please see Average Wine Prices and Wine Scores. Barbera is believed to have originated in the hills of Monferrato in central Piemonte, Italy where it has been known from the thirteenth century.

Documents from the cathedral of Casale Monferrato between detail leasing agreements of vineyard lands planted with "de bonis vitibus barbexinis" or Barbera, as it was known then. In the 19th and 20th century, waves of Italian immigrants brought Barbera to the Americas where the vine took root in California and Argentina among other places.

Northwest Italy is the viticultural home for Barbera, but Italian immigrants spread it through much of the New World, where its acidity is valued in blended wines for the 'freshness' it imparts. Barbera is found in the Italian region of Piedmont, particularly in Monferrato, and to a lesser extent further south. Nearly half of all grape vine plantings in Piedmont are Barbera.

The earlier-ripening Barbera is grown on the cooler lower slopes below the Nebbiolo, and other secondary locations. This explains why relatively little Barbera is grown around Alba, where the wines are entitled to the appellation Barbera d'Alba.

As of there were 70, acres 28, hectares of Barbera planted, making it the third most widely planted red grape variety in Italy. In the Piedmont region Barbera is widely grown in Asti and Monferrato regions.

While there is no officially defined Classico region, like Chianti Classico, the region of the Asti province between the towns of Nizza Monferrato, Vinchio, Castelnuovo Calcea, Agliano, Belveglio and Rocchetta are considered among locals to be the "heart" of Barbera in Piedmont.

Being one of the warmest areas in Asti, Nizza has the potential to produce the ripest Barbera with sugar levels to match some of the grape's high acidity. The wines of Barbera d'Asti tend to be bright in color and elegant while Barbera d'Alba tend to have a deep color with more intense, powerful fruit. Outside of Piedmont Barbera is found throughout Italy. Elsewhere in Lombardy it is blended with Croatina and as part of a larger blend component in the red wines of Franciacorta.

In Sardinia, the grape is used around Cagliari in the wine known as Barbera Sarda and in Sicily, the grape is used in various blends under the names Perricone or Pignatello made near Agrigento.

But the argument does not end here, because the vagabond nature of Barbera has made it a global vine without borders: you will find fantastic Barberas around Italy and in the most remote corners of the world.

In California, in Santa Barbara County, you will find surprising Barberas, such as the one in the Palmina winery, but even in Lake County there are boutique wineries to explore and more generally across the Central Coast quality is growing: finally Barbera is no longer a second-tier wine with a beautiful color, but a new reality to cultivate.

For the more substantial and complex bottles, choose a temperature of degrees. The young wines, easy to drink and with a beautiful live fruit hold up the temperature, especially if sparkling. Main Content Contact Us View Cart. Toggle navigation. Most prominently throughout Italy's Piedmont wine region, you will find the red grape variety called Barbera. There's nothing like Barbera's steep acidic nature and low-key tannins. Here are 5 things to know about Barbera wine.

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