We were getting to the half-way point of fifteen Piedmontese wines at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan and not only were the two Raconteurs having fun, but so were all the other patrons that were coming in for the tasting and being treated to some unique wines from the region.

We were poured La Bioca “Daje Mach” Verduno Pelaverga DOC 2021.  This was the second wine from La Bioca which is a small winery in Serralunga d’Alba in the Langhe zone.  The word “Bioca” is a Piedmontese local word to describe a decisive person with a “tough head.”  “Daje Mach” is also a local Piedmontese idiom which translates to “Go for It,” or in today’s parlance “May the force be with you.”  The winery began in 2012 and now has two spacious warehouses, an underground cellar, a large tasting room and terrace and an “agriturismo” with six rooms, along with their large production facility.  Verduno Pelaverga DOC was elevated in the 1990s to promote Piedmont’s lesser-known varietals.  The entire area is tiny acreage at the northern edge of Barolo DOCG.  Pelaverga is a rare red grape, also known as Pelaverga Piccolo, Carola, Cari, Fra Germano and Taddone.  This wine is pure Pelaverga Piccolo and is manually harvested, destemmed and undergoes cold maceration for seventy-two hours with two pump-overs daily in a temperature-controlled Stainless-Steel tank.  Ther fermentation lasts for about nine days, followed by fifteen days of maceration, followed by Malolactic Fermentation and aging in Stainless-Steel for six months.  This light red colored wine offered notes of red currants, violets, and freshly ground black and white peppers.  On the palate this dry medium-bodied wine displayed savory tones of fruit, spices with velvety tannins, and ends with a medium-count finish of fruit and spicy peppers; this wine served slightly chilled, could easily be an aperitif with a charcuterie board.

We then had Ercole Barbera del Monferrato DOC 2023 by Angelo Negro.  Monferrato is a triangular shaped region in the middle of Turin, Milan and Genoa, and the vineyards are designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  An historically significant winery whose origins date back to 1670, with the planting of two vineyards: Perdaudin and Prachiosso.  Ercole is derived from Hercules and is a cooperative of local growers in the Monferrato region, committed to sustainable farming. The vineyards on average have thirty- to fifty-year-old vines.  This wine is pure Barbera typically planted with southern exposures.  This deep red wine offered notes of cherry and leather.  On the palate this full-bodied dry wine displayed tones of cherry, plum, blueberry and leather with medium acidity and medium tannins and ended with a medium-count finish of fruit.

We followed with a Vite Colte “La Lune e I Falo” Barbera d’Asti DOCG Superiore 2021 from Terre da Vino and the brand name translates to “The Moon and the Bonfires.”  They created the subsidiary Vite Colte to create a distinction and to focus on the company’s top lines in terms of content.  There are one hundred and eighty wine growers cultivating three hundred hectares, with each wine grower devoting only part of his harvest to the Vite Colte project.  Barbera d’Asti became a DOC in 1970 and was upgraded to its DOCG classification in 2008. The DOCG requirements are that the wine must be at least ninety percent Barbera, and the Superiore designation requires 12.5% proof, and needs fourteen months of aging.  This wine is pure Barbera, and the fruit comes from over sixty hectares of vineyards, with blending fruit from different soils and microclimates.  The wine begins with Initial Fermentation during ten days of maceration, followed my Malolactic Fermentation and twelve months in French oak barriques.  This deep ruby red wine offered notes of cherries, strawberries, blueberries, violets, licorice and vanilla.  On the palate this medium-bodied dry and crisp wine displayed tones of red berries, vanilla, spices with silky tannins and ending with a medium-count finish of fruit and spices.