Vietti, Tre Vigne, Barbera d’Asti, Italy 2021

The grapes utilized in the Tre Vigne Barbera are delicately selected from vineyards within Agliano Terme, one of which is also used for Vietti’s single vineyard La Crena, as well as other villages around the rolling hills of Asti. After harvest, the grapes undergo a cold maceration in stainless steel, then are fermented for approximately 2 weeks, with daily pump-overs. The wine then macerates for another week, following which it is racked and transferred into oak for malolactic fermentation. The wine is aged in a combination of barriques, Slovenian casks, and steel for roughly 18 months.

Aromatically the wine is perfumed with notes of cherry and sweet spices. On the palate, the wine is medium bodied with a charming amount of acidity, balanced with the utilization of oak and lingering flavors of cherries.

The Vietti winery, now managed by the family’s fifth generation, is based in the small medieval village of Castiglione Falletto, the heart of Piedmont’s famous “Langhe” wine region. Here the Currado family carefully and patiently handcrafts lauded wines that are the result of a unique combination of sun and soil. Although the family has made wine for two centuries, the first Vietti-labeled wines were produced by third-generation Mario, who transformed the family’s farm into a grape growing winery. In 1952 Luciana Vietti married winemaker and art connoisseur Alfredo Currado, whose intuitions – from the production of one of the first Barolo crus (Rocche di Castiglione – 1965), through the single-varietal vinification of Arneis (1967) to the invention of Artist Labels (1974) – made him both symbol and architect of some of the most significant revolutions of the time.

In 1970 the Viettis began working with artists on an ongoing, original artwork label program, featuring Pier Paolo Pasolini and Janet Fish among others, which received an exhibition at New York’s MOMA in 1996. In 1990 Alfredo and Luciana’s son Luca joined the family business as winemaker after working at California’s Simi Winery, Opus One, Long Vineyards and Bordeaux’s Mouton-Rothschild. His innovative winemaking utilizes a unique combination of the modern and traditional. Luca’s focus on terroir is reflected in his careful cultivation and organic farming of more than 25 single vineyards. The estate has gradually grown over the course of time, and today the vineyards include some of the most highly prized terroirs within the Barolo winegrowing area.

In 2016 the historic winery was acquired by Krause Holdings, enabling Luca and Elena, always at the head of Vietti brand, to add a number of prized crus to the estate’s holdings, and be able as a result to look to a future with new, stimulating prospects, all while maintaining the family approach for which the cellar has always been known.