Orlando Abrigo Mervisano Barbera d'Alba 2016

Piedmont is Italy’s gastronomic heartland, quite an achievement in a country where the cuisine is such an integral part of the national identity. Home to the slow food movement, it’s a misty, mountainous region that supplies the country’s restaurants with truffles, and fills the finest wine lists with gems like this. Giovanni Abrigo, is grandson of the founder and son of Orlando. He qualified as an oenologist and is now in full charge of the family estate. It includes vineyards in the top cru of Montersino. Pure estate-grown Barbera, the wine is aged in 500-litre French oak casks – 40% of those new – for over a year’s ageing. This allows the wine to breathe and gain layers of spice and complexity. Open early and decant or, ideally, cellar.