2022 Cantina L’Armangia, Barbera, Nizza DOCG “Titon” Piemonte, Italy.
This newly discovered winery, for me, Cantine L’Armangia, makes a top notch collection of Barbera and of particular note is this fabulous Nizza DOCG bottling that is done with methods that are more like a Barolo than a Barbera d’Asti or Barbera d”Alba, resulting in a seriously powerful and structured wine with dark fruit character, deep complexity and exceptional length. This was an impressive find at the most recent Slow Wine tour stop in San Francisco and definitely re-kindled my passion for Barbera, which has always been a grape that I had a soft spot for since yearly wine drinking days. The first wines I even bought by the case were Dolcetto and Barbera, and wines like this one make me want to grab a case for personal drinking pleasure, especially with a rustic Italian meal. The Titon Nizza by L’Armangia is beautifully dark purple/garnet in the glass and is nicely aromatic with violet florals, dried herbs, dark berry and bramble lifting up to the nose and has a full bodied palate of crushed blackberry, currant, plum and cherry fruits, along with briar, mint, cedar and anise in the background. The subtle earthiness and lengthy ripe fruit are accented by the grape’s natural acidity and just the right amount of tannin and wood framing. The Titon is a substantial effort and I am looking for the following this winery in the future and checking out more of their lineup, which is primarily focused on the Barbera grape and some very interesting micro climate versions. The vines all see organic tending and sustainable practices as witnessed by Slow Wine, which only recognizes such careful production.
Barbera is finally getting the respect it deserves, once a peasant grape it has now some fine terroirs that are full DOCGs, like Nizza, which also called Barbera d’Asti Superiore Nizza prior to 2014 when it received its full DOCG status. As noted before, Nizza is located in the region of Piedmont and must be made from 100% Barbera grapes, and the zone of production is limited to the areas of Agliano Terme, Belveglio, Bruno, Calamandrana, Castel Boglione, Castelnuovo Belbo, Castelnuovo Calcea, Castel Rocchero, Cortiglione, Incisa Scapaccino, Moasca, Mombaruzzo, Mombercelli, Nizza Monferrato, Rocchetta Palafea, San Marzano Oliveto, Vaglio Serra and Vinchio within the province of Asti. That may sound like a lt, but it is a rather small area in the geographic sense. The Nizza zone is in the Tertiary Piedmont Basin, a hilly region that originated from the lifting of the seabed during the late Tertiary epoch period millions of years ago and the soils here are calcareous, of medium depth, and characterized by sandy-clay marls and stratified sandstones. For Nizza, the grapes are on sunny exposures and get full ripe, with the wines needing to be 13 to 13.5% natural alcohol to qualify for the DOCG label. The L’Armagia Titon Nizza Barbera saw 100% de-stemming and a traditional maceration and fermentation in cool stainless steel vats before being racked to old large Botti for aging, with this wine, again not too different from Barolo seeing close to 18 months in cask and a another year in bottle before release. This wine, by L’Armangia, looks set to be a charmer fr many years to come, I really enjoyed it, and I can see another decade in bottle with even more rewards.
($30 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive