Barbaresco

It is pure Nebbiolo, grown no higher than 550 metres on the same Tortonian marls and layered sands that run through the Langhe. The rules draw a distinction inside the zone: the hills of Barbaresco and Neive give wines of structure and tannic power on one side, softness and ripe fruit on the other, while Treiso's are more about finesse than weight. Pruned to Guyot on low trellises, the vines give a garnet wine with orange glints, ethereal on the nose, dry and velvety.

Barbaresco must age at least 26 months from the first of November of the harvest year, nine of them in wood, and a Riserva 50 — shorter than Barolo, which is why it reaches the market a year sooner. Since 2007 labels may carry the name of one of the zone's officially mapped vineyard areas. Where the name comes from nobody agrees: some tie it to the Barbarians who brought down Rome, others to a Gaulish taste for a wine called Barbaritium.