Barbera D'Asti - Superiore - Boffa

The Barbera d'Asti Superiore DOCG by Boffa Carlo e Luigi is the most convincing demonstration that Barbera — Piedmont's everyday variety, the one that Asti farmers drank from a carafe every evening — can become something extraordinary when a serious artisan producer decides to treat it with the same care and respect reserved for the great ageing wines.

Boffa Carlo e Luigi is a small family estate in the Asti area — the heart of the Barbera d'Asti appellation, that hilly strip between Asti and Canelli where Barbera has its deepest roots and its most authentic expression. The Boffa family tends its vineyards with generational artisan dedication, prioritising grape quality and respect for the territory over volume production — 2,500 bottles per year of this Superiore testify to a precise and consistent production choice.

Barbera is Piedmont's most generous and most underrated variety — generous because it produces grapes of great natural concentration and an exceptionally high natural acidity that makes it long-lived and versatile at the table, underrated because for too long it was considered the "poor wine" in contrast to the nobility of Nebbiolo. Yet in the right hands, with controlled yields, late harvest and quality wood ageing, Barbera d'Asti Superiore can reach an aromatic complexity and depth that surprises even the most demanding palates.

Boffa interprets the Barbera Superiore with 12 months of ageing in French oak barriques and tonneaux — a combination that brings tannic finesse from the barrique and structural roundness from the tonneaux, integrating spiced and vanilla notes into the wine that interweave magnificently with Barbera's natural red fruit — followed by 6 months of bottle ageing before release. The result is a Barbera Superiore of great character: the 15.5% natural alcohol — the fruit of a late harvest and exceptional grape concentration in the 2022 vintage — is perfectly balanced by the vibrant acidity that is the genetic signature of this variety, creating a balance between power and freshness that is the most fascinating characteristic of the finest Asti Superiore.

On the nose it is rich and enveloping: ripe black cherry and morello jam, blackberry, plum, cacao, warm spice — vanilla, cinnamon — light tobacco and a balsamic note of hillside aromatic herbs. On the palate it is warm and structured — present but already well-integrated tannins from the wood ageing, a glyceric sweetness that balances the alcoholic power, the ever-lively and vertical natural Barbera acidity, and a long persistent finish with notes of concentrated dark fruit, spice and integrated oak. Serve at 16-17°C with brief decanting. Expresses its best between 3 and 10 years from the harvest.