Cascina Castlet Barbera d'Asti 2024

The ‘Vespa’ Barbera d'Asti has wonderful ripe red fruits, licorice and floral aromas leaping from the glass followed by a supple, silky, ripe mouthful of red fruits that will remind you of a first class Pinot Noir with Italiano style. Made by a small, traditional estate in Piedmont, Mariuccia Borio is a Barbera specialist who hand picks all the fruit and makes elegant classic wines (that’s her as a girl in the pink dress in the 1950’s---love it!). Serve with pork, chicken, pasta with tomato-based sauces, salmon, tuna or fine cheeses.  

In keeping with her commitment to sustainable and organic agricultural practices Mariuccia has installed on the vineyard and electrical poles, different sized wooden and cement boxes.  These are for the nests of various types of birds (night feeders and day feeders) which act as a natural and integrated pest control system. The estate also has roses at the beginning and endings of all the rows and the color of the roses differs with each varietal. This acts an alarm system for mildew. Solar panels provide the energy for the cellars and there is a plant-based system for purifying the waste water which consists of an open tank planted with reeds that filter and purify the water naturally. The tank also provides a natural environment for frogs, hedgehogs and birds. 

Mariuccia says, “In the field of wine, one must have much patience because neither science nor technology can be  substituted for the transformation time gives to a wine.” Mariuccia is a woman of much patience, of much vision and of much conviction. She has taken the humble Barbera grape and transformed it into elegant and exceptional wines. It is a true success story and she has done it...her way.