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 precisely by Bricco dell’Uccellone.

A singular story that of the Uccellone, a derogatory nickname given to a woman who lived on a hillside vineyard property in Rocchetta Tanaro and distinguished by a bird-billed nose and dark, monotonous, mostly black clothing: the nickname spread through the village, and Giacomo Bologna, who in sympathy and jocularity was second to none, drew inspiration back in 1982 for his first barrique-aged Barbera Riserva, the first in a long and successful series that changed the destiny of this grape both nationally and across the border.

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 never previously carried out that completely changed the yield of this 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 small red fruit to sweet spices, underbrush and balsamic notes. It may remind us of Piedmontese wines emblazoned with a behavior that is in some ways austere and refined, very classy, but we like to think that, underneath, there is nonetheless that “bratty” Barbera from which it all began.