Smentià - Barbera , 2015

An ancient and forgotten soul with a strong and young body. Smentià is dialect for the Italian word “forgotten.” This wine expresses my idea to use modern techniques in the cellar to produce a "grandfather wine", a forgotten type of wine that is by now an unusual and exciting tasting experience. This style of wine does not require any additional chemicals or modifications. At the very beginning, it was produced by vinifying the grapes of 6 small old vineyards—some of them as old as 110 years old—spread among the beautiful hills of the little town of Ponzano and Castelletto Merli (Piedmont). In 2006, we planted a new vineyard called “Naomi Campbell” off the side of the wine cellar. This young vineyard already had great potential in creating new wines for our collection. In 2009, we vinified the so-called Smentià for the first time in a steel tank, then aged it in wooden barrels for at least 18 months to allow the wine to reach the right maturation and natural cleaning. Smentià brings to light treasures of smells and tastes nowadays forgotten.