Josetta Saffirio Barbera d’Alba Superiore DOC 2022 (6 Bottles) Piedmont, Italy

The fruit comes from high, southeast-facing sites in Monforte d’Alba. The soils are loaded with minerals and limestone, lending a chalky tone to the savoury, berry-rich flavour profile. The fruit was picked by hand, destemmed and fermented in stainless steel tanks. It matured in wooden cask for 12 months.

“A quiet nose leads to woodland notes, porcini mushrooms and lacy lichen on mossy logs. Wild raspberries, soft as silk. Pine needles, wind through cedar, and the sweet-green-red scent of sun-ripened vine tomatoes grown on soil as dark as shadow. A wine rich in earth tones with a wild, fey sweetness of tiny, scarlet-berried fruits carrying piccolo, wind-lifted acidity. Tannins that feel and taste like dry mountain herbs, crumbling to tisane in the mouth. This is wonderful.” 17/20, Tamlyn Currin, jancis robinson