2016 Braida Montebruna Barbera D'Asti DOCG 750 ml

Tucked into a corner trattoria in Verona, glasses of red wine arrived at our table. In broken Italian, we tried to explain we’d ordered a bottle, but the waiter insisted we try it—a request that quickly led to today’s offer of the spectacular 2016 Braida Montebruna Barbera d’Asti DOCG.

We knew right away: Our members need to have this wine on their tables. 

After our first sip—and smiles around the table—the waiter revealed our surprise: the 2016 Braida Montebruna Barbera d’Asti. Immediately, the reasons why we love Braida and their phenomenal, cherry-scented and soulful Barberas came flooding back—with every course, the Montebruna’s layered complexity sang, with notes of cedar and five-spice mingling with plum and tart cherry. The 2016 is bright and mouthwatering enough to pair with notoriously difficult baby artichokes, savory enough for pizza, robust and concentrated enough for steak. 

The mysterious red had landed on our table as a gift, from the Bologna family that runs the Braida estate. Sitting just a few tables away in Verona, they had sent us the wine as an introduction. We’d long known of Braida—as Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate put it, “This producer almost single-handedly invented the concept of Barbera d'Asti”—and we had been longing to visit their estate. 

Our serendipitous meeting reminded us why: Braida’s ruby Barbera embodies the fresh, mouthwatering, and versatile character of northern Italian reds with shimmering clarity and bottles $50 wine for half the price.

We’re not the only ones who think that this Montebruna Barbera d’Asti release is a cut above: Wine Spectator loved this “bright, succulent style” of Barbera, driven by ripe black fruit and warming spices, praising its “long, mouthwatering finish.” James Suckling, too, was drawn in by the Montebruna’s “full body, chewy tannins, and succulent finish.” 

This is one of those rare wines that offers the best of both worlds—inviting and versatile enough to drink now, but structured and serious enough to age for five years or more.

In the 1960s, while most Piemonte producers still brushed Barbera off as a nondescript table grape, Braida’s proprietor, the late Giacomo Bologna, believed that the variety could produce legendary wines. Single-vineyard cuvées, reserve releases, and new oak aging were unheard of for Barbera, but the quality of Braida’s wines made others take notice. Wine Advocate has praised Braida for continuing “to offer compelling evidence, vintage after vintage, of the variety's unquestionable excellence.”

The Montebruna Barbera comes from the estate-owned Montebruna vineyard, located in the heart of Barbera d’Asti. The vineyard is entirely devoted to the Barbera grape, which is fermented in stainless steel before aging for a full year in large oak barrels. 

Trust us—you don’t really know Barbera until you’ve tried Braida.