Black fruit aromas, with some savoury, spicy notes. Complex with black cherry, bramble and a hint of violet on the palate. Good structure and fine tannins lead to a long rich finish.

Araldica is Piemonte's most progressive co-operative, situated in Castel Boglione, in the heart of Barbera d'Asti territory. Here they work with 230 grower members to source quality grapes from around 690ha of vineyards. Many of their members joined the co-operative in the 1950s and have a long and loyal relationhip with the winery. They produce wines from Piemonte's main DOC / DOCG regions - predominantly Barbera, Gavi and Moscato, but also including Barolo, Barbaresco and Roero Arneis. Whilst the majority of production is from traditional varieties, some international varieties such as Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are also grown.

They produce wines under Araldica, Araldica 'I Classici' and Alasia labels - and also a range of single estate wines from Il Cascinone (acquired in 1999) and La Battistina (acquired in 2002). Founded in 1954 by Livio Manera, father of the current Managing Director and winemaker Claudio Manera, Araldica has developed over the past 60+ years to become a major winemaking force in Piemonte, supplying wines across the globe. Claudio's wife Lella heads up quality control at Araldica, where she is responsible for the blending and approval of all wines. Their son Carlo, also a qualified winemaker, is now part of the Araldica winemaking team. Livio pioneered developments in winemaking techniques - especialy with regard to the production of Barbera - and Araldica have since continued to be instrumental in driving awareness and distribution of Barbera and Gavi within the UK market and internationally.

Alasia Barbaresco is produced from a selection of the best grapes from Araldica's 9 member growers with vineyards in Barbaresco. The grapes are hand-harvested in early October.

The Nebbiolo grapes are de-stemmed and crushed to four small fermenters for 12 days, with daily pumping-over. This ensures good colour and flavour extraction, but avoids over extraction of the abundant Nebbiolo tannins. The wine is drained off at dryness and the skins transferred to a small press. After pressing the wine is settled for two days, and then racked to Slavonian oak botte and barrique, where it is aged for 2 years. It is then racked from oak and gently natural egg white fined. Another 6 months maturation in bottle is completed before release.

Fantastic with roasted and grilled meats.