Ravensworth Hilltops Barbera 2021

This year we’ve got 87% Barbera and 13% Nebbiolo. Barbera, as a variety, makes perfect sense, ticks all the right boxes: It grows almost anywhere; chemically, it’s an easy wine to make as it has a great acid balance; and It doesn’t require any bells and whistles like new oak, bunches or time in the cellar to work itself out. It leans toward more savoury characters rather than being a fruit bomb, and then you put all that with a great lick of acid and couple it with those fine powdery Nebbiolo tannins, it just works. This year, all the fruit was hand-harvested and given the whole-berry treatment and a cold soak. It had a wild ferment and three weeks on skins before it was pressed to four- or five-year-old French barriques. After seven months on lees it was bottled unfiltered. Winemaker’s Notes