The house grapes · red
Barbera: Piedmont's everyday red
Barbera is the most planted red grape in Piedmont, in northern Italy. It makes a deep-colored wine with ripe red fruit and high acidity, with little tannin, that grip on your gums. That's why it goes down easy and pairs well with almost anything in tomato sauce. It's a wine tied to old farming traditions, and today it also comes in a version for aging.
Where it comes from
Barbera is Italian. In VIVC, the international grape catalog, its main name is Barbera Nera, a red grape originating in Italy. DNA testing found one of its parents, Coccalona Nera, an old Piedmontese grape that hardly anyone plants today. The other parent remains unknown, and the passport shows just a question mark. In other words: half of its family already has a name.
The consortium that looks after the Langhe wines says it comes from the lands of the old Marquisate, and later Duchy, of Monferrato. The first written record is from 1512, in a land registry document from the commune of Chieri, near Turin, according to the Barbera d'Asti consortium. In 1798 it made it into Piedmont's first ampelography, written by Count Nuvolone.
What it's like in the glass
The Barbera d'Asti consortium sums up the grape in three traits: high acidity, lots of color and little tannin. In practice, the wine has a dark ruby color, almost purple when young, aromas of ripe red fruit, like cherry and plum, and a fresh sip that makes your mouth water. Since the tannin is low, it doesn't grip your mouth the way a Nebbiolo or a Cabernet does.
There are two ways to make it. Fermented and kept in stainless steel, it comes out fresher and more direct, to drink right away. With time in a barrel or a wooden cask, it gains body and notes of vanilla and spice, and becomes a wine that holds up for a few years in the bottle. The consortium notes that the grape goes from young red, sometimes even lightly sparkling, to age-worthy wine.
What it pairs with
High acidity and low tannin make Barbera a red for everyday food. Pizza of any kind, pasta al sugo, lasagna, gnocchi in tomato sauce, chicken with polenta and galinhada (Brazilian chicken and rice). The acidity cuts through the fat of salami, mortadella and cheese, so it holds up well to a board of cold cuts. The oaked versions take on roast meat, meatballs and pork ribs. Being low in tannin, it can even be served a little cooler in summer. It's a suggestion: if you liked it with something else, your taste is what counts.
Where it shines today
In Piedmont, it's the most widespread red grape, and its heart lies in the provinces of Asti and Alessandria. Barbera d'Asti, which became a DOC in 1970 and a DOCG in 2008, has at least 90% Barbera; the Superiore ages at least 14 months, 6 of them in wood. Barbera d'Alba uses 85% to 100% Barbera and can have up to 15% Nebbiolo. Nizza, which started out as a subzone of Barbera d'Asti, is now a DOCG of its own and is made from Barbera alone.
Outside Piedmont, it carries weight in other Italian regions, such as Lombardy (in Oltrepò Pavese), Emilia-Romagna, Umbria, Campania and Sicily. Across the ocean, it shows up in California and South America. In Brazil, Embrapa's register counted less than 7 hectares of Barbera in Rio Grande do Sul in 2012. In Italy, it's an everyday thing; here in Brazil, it's still a find.
Its other names
Unlike many famous grapes, Barbera has almost no nicknames. Italy's official grape register says it has no real synonyms: the names going around are its own name with an adjective, like Barbera Grossa, Barbera Fina, Barbera d'Asti or Barberone. VIVC records 35 synonyms, almost all of that kind, and uses Barbera Nera as the main name. On the label, you'll just read Barbera.
The relative that almost vanished
Barbera's known mother or father is Coccalona Nera, a grape so forgotten that researchers found the plant in southeastern Piedmont with no name and had to compare it with old descriptions to identify it. The 2020 DNA study concludes that Coccalona must have been widely planted in the past, probably for ordinary blended wine, and that's why it left almost no trace in the books.
The same study found another offspring of Coccalona: Welschriesling, a white grape known as Riesling Italico in Italy and Graševina in the Balkans. Barbera and Welschriesling are probably not full sisters, but they're likely half-sisters, with Coccalona as their common parent. In other words: Piedmont's most planted red grape has a white relative spread across Central Europe, and the link between the two only showed up with DNA.
Top rated with Barbera
Average rating from the people who drank it (X-Wines), from 1 to 5. Tap to see the wine's page.
- Waterford Estate The Jemrating ★ 4.7
- Guerrieri Rizzardi Calcarole Amarone della Valpolicella Classicorating ★ 4.6
- Giacomo Conterno Barbera d'Alba Vigna Franciarating ★ 4.4
- Scarpa La Bogliona Barbera d'Astirating ★ 4.4
- Braida Ai Suma Barbera d'Astirating ★ 4.4
- Braida Bricco dell'Uccellone Barbera d'Astirating ★ 4.4
- Coppo Pomorosso Barbera d'Astirating ★ 4.4
- Guerrieri Rizzardi Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Villa Rizzardirating ★ 4.4
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