i Vicini Barbera Red 2021

i Vicini Barbera Red 2021

Jean Yves Peron

This bottle from Jean-Yves Péron's I Vicini series is an organic, biodynamic, and natural red wine. It is vinified in Savoie from grapes harvested in Piedmont. The grape variety is Barbera, grown in Asti and Alba. The second most widely used red grape variety in Italy after Sangiovese, Barbera produces full-bodied, colorful wines with notes of red fruits. This vintage is classified as a Wine of the European Community.

Vinification

Hand-harvested, no sulfites added, no filtration, no fining. The two Barberas are macerated for three months with punching down and undergo fifteen days of carbonic maceration. The wine is aged for one year in 225-liter barrels. The 13.5 degrees of alcohol testifies to the desire not to exaggerate its richness and power: the average Barbera today is closer to 15 degrees.

Tasting

A great wine in every sense of the word, this I Vicini Barbera. Long, very fruity, generous, deep, with superb acidity resulting from a harvest at moderate maturity, it is both serious and joyful, intense and concentrated. Finesse, minerality, tension, beautiful intense and colorful red color: it demands to accompany beautiful cuts of meat, whether black pork from Bigorre or high-end beef from Maison Aitana.

Learn more about Jean-Yves Péron

Jean-Yves Péron talentedly embodies the organic, biodynamic and natural renaissance of the Savoyard vineyard, which is based on varied soils and many indigenous grape varieties (jacquère, altesse, mondeuse, etc.). At his Chevaline winery in the Bauges region, he vinifies grapes from his plots in Conflans, near Albertville, and Fréterive, in the Isère valley.

High-altitude biodynamics

Jean-Yves Péron's work follows the principles of minimal intervention. On narrow, steep slopes, his hand-worked mountain vines in micro-plots receive no synthetic products, Jean-Yves preferring horsetail and nettle manure. The grapes are vatted in whole bunches and undergo semi-carbonic maceration. Shortly before pressing, they are foot-trodden in the vat, then transferred to two- or three-wine barrels for twelve months of aging on lees, before blending and resting in the vat. No sulfites are added, or as little as possible, and the wines are not fined or filtered.

Italian-Savoyard trade

Since 2011, a trading activity has allowed Jean-Yves Péron to buy the harvest from neighboring organic winegrowers and to collaborate with winegrowers from Northern Italy: this is the I Vicini series, which allows him to diversify the terroirs and deepen his experiences in winemaking and aging.