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Barbera is a red Italian wine grape variety that, as of 2000, was the third most-planted red grape variety in Italy (after Sangiovese and Montepulciano). It produces good yields and is known for deep color, full body, low grape tannins and high levels of acidity.J. Robinson (ed) The Oxford Companion to Wine Third Edition pg 62-63 Oxford University Press 2006
Century-old still exist in many regional and allow for the production of long-aging, robust red wines with intense fruit and enhanced tannic content. The best-known appellation is the DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) Barbera d'Asti in the Piedmont region: the highest-quality Nizza DOCG wines are produced within a sub-zone of the Barbera d'Asti production area. When young, the wines offer a very intense aroma of fresh red cherries and blackberries. In the lightest versions notes of cherries, raspberries and blueberries and with notes of blackberry and black cherries in wines made of more ripe grapes. Many producers employ the use of toasted oak barrels, which provides for increased complexity, aging potential, and hints of vanilla notes. The lightest versions are generally known for flavors and aromas of fresh fruit and , and are not recommended for cellaring. Wines with a better balance between acid and fruit, often with the addition of oak and having a high alcohol content are more capable of cellaring; these wines often result from reduced-yield viticultural methods.Robinson, Jancis Vines, Grapes & Wines pg 145-147 Mitchell Beazley 1986
Barbera can adapt to a wide range of vineyard soils but tends to thrive most in less fertile calcareous soils and clay loam. soils can help limit the vigor and yields. The grape rarely thrives in very alkaline or saline soils. Like many grape varieties with a long history, the Barbera vine has seen mutation and clonal variation arise with different clones of the variety found in Piedmont, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and the Mezzogiorno. The different clones can be identified by the size and shape of their grape clusters with the smaller cluster clones producing the highest quality wine. In recent years, viticulturists have been working with clonal selection to increase Barbera's resistance to the leafroll virus.
In the 1970s, the French enologist Emile Peynaud recommended that Barbera producers use small oak barrels for fermentation and maturation in order to add subtle oak spice flavors and limited levels of oxygenation to soften the wine. The added oxygen would also limit the reductive quality of Barbera and the occurrence of off-odors of hydrogen sulfide that would occur in some examples. The picked up from the oak, was found to increase the richness of Barbera. At the time, his recommendation met some resistance from the tradition-minded Barbera producers, but the success of the "Super Tuscans" which introduced new oak barrel treatment to Sangiovese caused many producers to reconsider. In addition to the subtle oxygenation and spice notes, oak imparts to the wine ligneous wood tannins which give structure to the wine without adding as much astringent bite as the tannins derived from the phenolic compounds of the grape. This, coupled with reduced maceration time, contributed to the production of softer wines. Lower yields and harvesting riper grapes with more fruit and sugar have been found to be a better balance for Barbera's high acidity.
Nizza (also Barbera d'Asti Superiore Nizza before 2014) is a DOCG designation whose zone of production is limited to the comuni (municipalities) of Agliano Terme, Belveglio, Bruno, Calamandrana, Castel Boglione, Castelnuovo Belbo, Castelnuovo Calcea, Castel Rocchero, Cortiglione, Incisa Scapaccino, Moasca, Mombaruzzo, Mombercelli, Nizza Monferrato, Rocchetta Palafea, San Marzano Oliveto, Vaglio Serra and Vinchio within the province of Asti.
Since 2000, it has been possible to produce Barbera d'Asti Superiore, for which the wine must have an alcoholic strength of at least 12.5% by volume, and be aged for at least 14 months, 6 months of which stored in oak or chestnut barrels. Many superior producers refine it in small oak barriques to obtain a rounder taste. The superior has the following sub-zones indicated on the label: Nizza, Tinella, or Colli Astiani (Asti).
Outside Piedmont, Barbera is found throughout Italy, often as a component in mass vino da tavola blends. In the Lombardy region, it is seen as a varietal in Oltrepò Pavese with wines that range from slightly spritzy to semi-sparkling frizzante. Elsewhere in Lombardy, it is blended with Croatina and as part of a larger blend component in the red wines of Franciacorta. Southeast of Piedmont, Barbera is found in Emilia-Romagna in the hills between Piacenza, Bologna, and Parma. As in Lombardy, Barbera is often softened by blending with the lighter Croatina as it is in the Val Tidone region for the DOC wine of Gutturnio. In Sardinia, the grape is used around Cagliari in the wine known as Barbera Sarda, and in Sicily, the grape is used in various blends under the names Perricone or Pignatello made near Agrigento. Barbera was an important grape in re-establishing the wine industry of the Apulia and Campania regions following World War II due to its high yields and easy adaption to mechanical harvesting. Today it is a permitted variety to be blended with Aglianico in the Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) wine of Taurasi though it is rarely used.
The influence of Italian immigrants has led to a scattering of Barbera plantings in South America, notably in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. In Argentina, it is widely grown with planted as of 2010, mostly in the Mendoza wine and San Juan provinces, and used mostly for blending.
There are some small plantings in Israel.
Barbera came to Australia with cuttings imported from the University of California, Davis in the 1960s, and as of 2010 accounted for of planting land. It has been grown for about 25 years in the Mudgee region of New South Wales, with later plantings in a number of wine regions, including the King Valley in Victoria as well as the McLaren Vale and the Adelaide Hills regions in South Australia. John Gladstones, in his book Viticulture and Environment, includes Barbera in maturity group 5, which means that it will ripen at about the same time as Shiraz and Merlot, and that it should theoretically find a successful home in many Australian wine regions.Higgs, Darby, Emerging Varietal Wines of Australia, Booksurge, 2005 Australian wine producers have found some success with Barbera in Victoria. Mount Broke Wines of Broke, is one of the few in New South Wales, Australia.
South African producers have begun widespread plantings of the grape in the warm climate regions of Malmesbury, Wellington and Paarl.
In the United States, there are of plantings mostly in California, where Barbera is one of the most successful of the Piemontese grapes to be adopted in the state. It is widely planted in the Central Valley, where it is a blend component in mass-produced . In recent years, the fashion of Italian grapes has caused more California winemakers to look into producing high-quality varietal Barbera. Plantings in the cooler regions of Napa and Sonoma have produced some successful examples. In Washington State, producers have been experimenting with plantings of Barbera in the Red Mountain, Walla Walla, and Columbia Valley AVAs. So far these very young vines have produced fruity wines with strawberry notes and limited complexity and aging potential.P. Gregutt Washington Wines and Wineries: The Essential Guide p. 62 University of California Press 2007 In addition to Washington, in the Umpqua AVA of Oregon plantings of Barbara is proving successful, as well as plantings in central and southern Arizona.Amaranth Ridge, Oakland, Oregon
The use of oak for fermentation or maturation can have a pronounced influence on the flavor and profile of Barbera. Barrel-influenced Barberas tend to be rounder and richer, with more plum and spice notes. Wines made with older or more-neutral oak tend to retain more vibrant aromas and cherry notes. While some producers delay harvest in order to increase sugar levels as a balance to Barbera's acidity, over-ripeness can lead to flavors.
Barbera is also a parent variety behind Ervi (crossed with Croatina), Incrocio Terezi I (with Cabernet franc), Nigra (with Merlot) and Prodest (also with Merlot).
Despite similarities in names, Barbera has no close genetic relationship with the Campanian wine grape Barbera del Sannio or the Sardinian wine grape Barbera Sarda. Also, DNA analysis has shown that the white Piedmont variety Barbera bianca is not a color mutation of Barbera but rather its own distinct variety.
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