Vietti Barbera d’Asti La Crena 2018
Vietti Barbera d’Asti La Crena 2018
This 100% Barbera hail from the vineyard site La Crena, located in the village of Agliano Terme. The vineyard grows on loam-clay soil, and is planted with southern exposure, while the oldest part of the vineyard was planted in 1932. After harvest, the grapes are fermented over a couple of weeks in open-top stainless steel with mechanical punch-downs, délestage, and lots of open-air pump-overs. The wine then macerates for another week, then is racked and transferred into oak for malolactic fermentation to occur. The wine is then aged in a combination of barriques, Slovenia casks, and steel tanks for approximately 18 months.
Aromatically the wine has ripe notes of red raspberries, cherries, with lingering hints of warm baking scents. On the palate this Barbera is richer in style, being much more red fruit-forward, balancing acidity and well-integrated oak.
Pair with hearty stews, seasoned pasta and poultry with rich sauces, game, roasted red meats and sharp cheeses.
The Vietti 2018 Barbera d'Asti La Crena sees its fruit sourced from very old vines with some of the plants approaching the 100-year-old mark. This is a rich and darkly concentrated wine with a lovely bouquet that is lifted and bright. The wine reveals dark cherry fruit, raw blackberry and plum. That opulent, old-vine fruit drowns out much of the acidic sharpness of the grape. Some 10,000 bottles were crafted. - June, 2021, Wine Advocate, Monica Larner
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.
