Barbera d'Alba

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The production zone lies in the Langhe hills, which some scholars believe take their name from the term 'Langues' — tongues of land shaped by the changing of the seasons.
• The Langhe have their geological origins in the Tertiary, or Cenozoic Era, which began nearly 70 million years ago.
• White tufaceous marl characterises the production area, on the high hills that dominate the Tanaro river.
• The soils belong for the most part to the geological formation known as 'Tortonian', one of the 14 strata of the Tertiary basin of Piedmont, characterised by marls and thinly bedded sands of a bluish-grey colour.
• In the Castellinaldo subzone, situated on the left bank of the Tanaro river, the soils are looser and have a higher sand content compared with the other communes in the Barbera d'Alba production area.

• Barbera was once regarded as a rustic wine, but over time it has grown in public esteem thanks to appropriate winemaking techniques.
• The variety is grown mainly on south-west-facing slopes, trained on a trellis system with Guyot pruning.
• In the Castellinaldo subzone, producers — already united in an association — decided in the 1990s to adopt a more restrictive set of production rules compared with those of Barbera d'Alba.

Facts drawn from the specification's terroir-link section by automatic interpretation — see the source.

All appellations in Italy

Sources

• Specification (EUR-Lex, single document)
• eAmbrosia register (EU) — File number PDO-IT-A1068
• Official trade body site — Consorzio di Tutela Barolo Barbaresco Alba Langhe e Dogliani