2022 Mauro Veglio, Barbera d’Alba DOC, Piemonte, Italy.
The dark ruby/garnet 2022 Mauro Veglio Barbera d’Alba is tangy fresh and bright with a crunchy array of red fruits, these include Bing cherry, plum, red currant and tart blackberry, along with hints of spice, minty herbs, anise and blood orange. This is pure as pure gets and without any oak it makes for a very fresh quaffable red wine that really needs to be enjoyed with food. While I love the upper end Barolo offerings here, I am liking these more everyday varietal bottlings, which are great with pasta, pizza and simple meat dishes. Alessandro Veglio, who took over the winery recently, and brought along his inheritance parcels, from some prime crus, with him. These vines, located, as the winery notes, in mainly the Eastern slopes in the Barolo zone and set on classic marls (clay and limestone) and sandy soils, make for some serious and complex wines, especially the Nebbiolo efforts.
As I’ve noted in prior reviews, I discovered the Mauro Veglio wines only in the 2017 vintage, they offer a stylish series of Barolo wines, from many highly regarded Cru sites, as well as a terrific normal Barolo bottling from the younger vines that is an awesome bargain. As noted before here, Veglio makes a very nice set of Nebbiolo, Barbera, like this one, and Dolcetto wines, with the exceptional value “Angelo” Langhe Nebbiolo, that is a new go to. Mauro Veglio, a traditional winery, has a long family history going back generations in the Piemonte region, with the varietal wines typically getting a maceration on the skins in stainless steel tanks before the grapes are pressed with fermentation and aging in stainless tanks as well. These tank fermentations, with the Dolcetto, Barbera and Nebbiolo, lasts about 6 days, with its malolactic fermentation also taking place in the tanks to preserve aromatics and fresh details, as this one shows. Clear, juicy and transparent this Barbera is fun and drinks without pretense, drink it for the next 2 to 3 years, but no waiting needed.
($25 Est.) 90 Points, grapelive