2013 Roberto Ferraris Barbera d’Asti

“Purely Hedonistic” Barbera D’Asti … and Unfair Home-Court Advantage

It’s said that the olfactory is the keenest of senses. Maybe that’s why we’ll never forget the gnocchi, the olio, the Reggiano — or even the basketball rim that was 6 inches too high.

We left Monforte d’Alba last August at 9:30 a.m., took the turnoff towards Asti at 10:30, then slalomed our way through the verdant hillsides en route to Agliano Terme. By the time we pulled into the dusty driveway, it was almost noon. We smelled the gnocchi almost as soon as we stepped out of the car. The first course was already on the table.

As always in Italy, the simplest cuisine is the best. The gnocchi was handmade. The olives were homegrown, the olio recently cold-pressed. The herbs came from the garden behind the whitewashed courtyard. The massive hunk of Parmigiano-Reggiano was old and crusty, now freshly grated.

The wine we were served in oversized Riedel greeted us with aromas of black cherry preserves, dark plum, a faint touch of cedar. It was black — not ruby, not purple, BLACK — far deeper than anything we’d seen after a week of cellar-hopping in Barolo. The attack was luscious, as purely hedonistic as any European red — juicy black fruit to the core, all buttressed by refreshing ancient-vine acidity. Roberto Ferraris’ Barbera d’Asti sliced through the gnocchi, olive oil, and Parmesan like a stiletto.

After lunch, we were feeling little pain. Roberto led us around the hillside bowl to the steep, south-facing incline on which he grows what many believe to be the most luscious Barbera in Piedmont. The sun is hot in Asti, Ferraris explained, baking the 50-year-old plants. The old vines have deep root structures that burrow deep into the clay-sand substrata, allowing them to shrug off the summer heat and quench their thirst on the winter rain.

Over a challenging game of H-O-R-S-E, played in the courtyard on a basket a half-foot too high (unfair home-court advantage!!), we asked Roberto if this stunning 2013 was “tipico.” Was every vintage as voluptuous as the bottle that had been paired with his mother’s gnocchi?

Roberto laughed after dropping in an 18-footer. “2013 was a rare vintage. We thought we’d never see another vintage like 2001,” our host said, as he drained another from long range. “We were wrong.”

The extravagant 2013 Roberto Ferraris Barbera d’Asti is jet-black in color. Not ruby. Not purple. Black. Voluptuous aromas of black cherry preserves, dark plum, and sweet herbs. Black-fruit juicy on the attack, lush and opulent, all buttressed by terrific vibrancy. Roberto’s 2001 — tasted in the cellar last August — remains utterly primary and youthful 13 years after bottling. Roberto suggested that his 2013 could well outdistance the 2001.

That might be. But who’s waiting??

1,200 bottles just hit port. $22 on release. $15 today on WineAccess. This one is drop-dead delicious.

• ABV 13.50%
• Enjoy right away
• % Barbera