2018 Braida Il Baciale Rosso Piedmont

Il Bacialé”, in Piedmont dialect means the matchmaker and describes the person who arranged marriages between members of noble families in the area. This wine in fact originates from the perfect marriage of Barbera and other grape varieties.

Appellation: Monferrato Rosso D.O.C.

Grapes and Vineyard: Barbera from the vineyards of Castelnuovo Calcea; Merlot from the vineyards of Rocchetta Tanaro and San Marzano Oliveto; Cabernet Sauvignon from the vineyards of Rocchetta Tanaro and San Marzano Oliveto; Cabernet Franc from the vineyards of Rocchetta Tanaro; Pinot Noir from the vineyards of San Marzano Oliveto.

Vinification: Each variety is harvested and vinified separately as it ripens, beginning with Pinot Nero, followed by Merlot, Barbera, Cabernet Franc and, lastly, Cabernet Sauvignon. The hand-picked grapes undergo further selection by expert personnel, followed by destemming and soft pressing, which ensure that the grapes remain whole and prevent the formation of unpleasant herbaceous notes. Fermentation takes place in tanks made of steel, which prevents contamination better than other materials and guarantees better temperature control. The must is pumped over (roughly once every six hours, every day) during fermentation and délestage is carried out a couple of times in the first 15 days, for a total of about three weeks.

The wines are racked into barriques to optimise the stabilisation of the colour and malo-lactic fermentation.

This is followed by ageing in barriques, selected on the basis of the different types of wine, for 12 months and then blending. Blending is preceded by careful tasting to decide the composition, which can vary in terms of percentage every year.