The Marchesi Alfieri wine estate with its historic cellars is located amongst the heights in the Alfieri Castle in San Martino Alfieri. Standing high above the adjoining hills between Asti and Alba, the castle's position makes it an ideal location for the production of wines in the grand Piedmont manner. Estate owners Emanuela, Antonella, and Giovanna San Martino di San Germano manage the wine production in collaboration with Mario Olivero, Estate Director and Enologist. The esteemed Barbera d'Asti is the jewel of the estate's production accounting for the majority of the 100.000 bottles of wine produced from the 25 hectares of vineyard. With strict control, all wine production including grape harvest is captive to the estate's property in San Martino Alfieri. Recently, rooms within the estate have been restored to welcome the enthusiastic wine tourist.

In the family archives, there is a document written in 1337 which notes that the lands of San Martino Alfieri were already "vineati a philari"--rows of grapevines. On these hills that gently slope down to the river Tanaro, grape cultivation has always been the mainstay of the economy. Today, in the best "sorì" (the location in the vineyard with the best southern exposure to the sun) with vines more than 60 years old, a great quality of Barbera grape is produced. The Marchesi Alfieri estate has a surface area of nearly 24 hectares of cultivated vineyards of which 15 hectares is planted in vines bearing the Barbera grape varietal..

The best grapes on the vine are hand selected and isolated into small boxes in the vineyard. These small boxes are then taken to the castle. At a central table in the castle courtyard, the finest grapes from these small boxes are further selected. In this way, the finest of the finest grapes are chosen for wine production. These steps are repeated for each specific vineyard. Toward the end of August, the harvest begins with the early maturing pinot nero. From the middle of September through the middle of October the harvest continues for the barbera, grignolino and cabernet sauvignon grapes.

Made exclusively from Barbera grapes, this is a wine that we produce only in great vintage years. The fruit comes from historical vines first planted out in a four-hectare "sorì" (south-facing cru) in 1937. Dark ruby red in colour, with an intense and complex bouquet of mature cherries, prunes, wild berries and touches of vanilla and cocoa. Big, distinctive and well-balanced in the mouth, with a long fruity finish. Matures well in the bottle and is still evolving after more than 10 years of cellaring. Particularly well suited to roasts & other red meats and medium-to-well aged cheeses which are not mould-veined.