Barbera is Piedmont’s great everyday red — the grape that fills the glasses of the Langhe and Monferrato hills with a generosity, warmth, and vivid fruit character that has made it the most widely planted red variety in the region and one of the most beloved in all of Italy. Where Nebbiolo demands patience and reverence, Barbera offers immediate pleasure: deep colour, vibrant acidity, and a juicy, fruit-forward character that makes it one of the most food-friendly and genuinely enjoyable reds in the Italian canon. Villa Giada is one of Barbera d’Asti’s most respected and characterful producers — a family estate in the Canelli hills of the Asti Monferrato, farming their Piedmontese vineyards with a dedication and precision that is evident in every bottle. The ‘Suri’ — a name that nods to the Piedmontese dialect word for the grape’s characteristic natural acidity, that lively, mouth-watering quality that is Barbera’s most distinctive and appealing trait — is their most expressive and characterful Barbera: a wine of real depth and personality that showcases everything that makes this variety so compelling. The 2022 is a beautiful, vivid Barbera: intense scents of dark cherry and violets on the nose, with a hint of spice that adds a lovely warmth and complexity. On the palate it is full of fruit and dried leaves — that characteristic Barbera combination of vivid red fruit and earthy, autumnal depth — with persistent, soft tannins and that signature acidity that gives the wine a freshness and vitality that carries through to a long, satisfying finish. At £20.99, it is Barbera d’Asti at its most characterful and completely itself.