Barbera is Giacomo Bologna and Giacomo Bologna is Barbera in the sense that he owes the fortune of the beautiful winery he created to this vineyard, brought to its fullest expression by its interpretation as a reserve and not as a ready-made wine.

As with the two Bricchi, the Ai Suma Reserve also has a singular history behind it, made up of a desire that arose in 1989, thus a few years after the release of both Bricchi, to experiment with a late harvest of Barbera belonging to the vineyards of Rocchetta Tanaro: this decision, too, was criticized and opposed at the time, but it was not the first time that Giacomo Bologna brought forward revolutionary and breaking ideas without stopping at the first criticism or difficulty. From here the idea became action, was translated into wine and blessed with the words “Ai Suma”(here we go), providing for its production only in qualitatively exceptional vintages.

Medium-textured soils between sand and clay from which wines with an intense aromatic and flavor spectrum are obtained: this is the terroir of Rocchetta Tanaro, in the Asti area, where the Braida vineyards insist at 160 meters above sea level and south/southwest exposure.

Revolutionary was Giacomo Bologna’s intuition related to the use of barrique to age Barbera, an experiment that had never been done before and that completely changed the yield of that grape variety, enhancing its aging potential.

Of course, it is still and always a Barbera and must be appreciated as such: a convivial, generous, affable and reliable wine, but one that can express itself in a broad and complex way to the most demanding taster, offering a varied spectrum of scents ranging from berries to sweet and bitter spices to cocoa. It may be reminiscent of other wines from Piedmont and elsewhere for a tenacious, proud, winning demeanor, but we find it hard not to think that, underneath, there is nonetheless that “bratty” soul Barbera from which it all began.