BARBERA DEL MONFERRATO SUPERIORE
Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita
GRAPE VARIETY
Barbera
TASTING NOTES
Vicara's Cantico della Crosia Barbera del Monferrato Superiore DOCG 2020 is a profound and elegant Barbera, crafted to reveal the austere, age-worthy side of Monferrato. Aptly named a "cantico" (hymn), it celebrates nature's beauty, hailing from a woodland-encircled vineyard on ancient, complex soils, delivering intensity, structure, and remarkable persistence in the glass. The source vineyard lies immersed in an ancient Monferrato wood of oaks, hornbeams, and beeches, where stratified soils from millions of years past endow this Superiore Barbera with structure, finesse, and pronounced minerality. As the cantina's flagship Barbera, it is destined for maturation and elevates grand Piedmontese cuisine—more suited to the cellar than daily quaffing. The 2020 vintage across Piedmont and Monferrato yielded mature yet balanced Barbera, with fine concentration and excellent evolutionary potential, ideal for Superiore expressions. This bottling emerges particularly fragrant and refined, with full body, harmony, and enduring length, rewarding a few years' further bottle age. Cantico della Crosia 2020 boasts a deep ruby red, evolving towards garnet with time—dense and profound. Intense and complex, it layers mature cherry, blackberry, and red fruits with spicy echoes, toasted notes, leather hints, flinty minerality, and a subtle ethereal backdrop. Full-bodied, warm, and enveloping, with well-integrated tannins, sustaining freshness, and a long, persistent finish—almost "magical" in its depth. Cantico pairs ideally with rich, structured fare: braised meats, stews, roasts, game, agnolotti with ragù, and matured Piedmont cheeses. It suits special occasions or cellaring to capture its full evolution.