@mussobarbaresco #mussobarbaresco KEEPING ITALY ON TOP: WHOM YOU KNOW CELEBRATES ITALIAN STYLE INTELLIGENCE AND EXCELLENCE with Barbera d’Alba Doc by Musso Barbaresco, Highly Recommended by Whom You Know
Is there anything better than ringing in the New Year with stellar quality Italian red?
According to us, the answer is no and the Musso hit parade continues with their Barbera d'alba, an impressive rich garnet winner.
Garnets are Peachy's birthstones and though she loves jewelry too, wouldn't it be great to market the jewel with the wine? We'll work on that, but you should know that from the moment this ripe bastion of flavorful bliss burst out of the bottle into our glass it exhibited great legs and brilliant color.
With a fairly dense structure, the Musso Barbera d'alba is nicely balanced and versatile making it appropriate from cocktail hour to dinner courses, and it is talented enough to stand alone should you wish to sip it in its individual glory.
We tasted notes of plum and sophisticated dark fruits that emanated outrageously laudable complexity that invigorated our senses. When we say we would like a nice glass of strong Italian red please at a restaurant, this is what we are talking about.
Musso tells us:
In Langa, the grape Barbera arrived in the second half of the eighteenth century and found many privileged environments, especially on the best expositions where the grapes ripen well and bring in wines with fullness and structure. This Barbera d'Alba is obtained from grapes from the oldest vineyard of Musso, those located in Rio Sordo, in the municipality of Barbaresco.
The white soil is made up of limestone with some layers of clay to give additional firmness to the ground. The exposition is one of those that are good to making great wines, a south-west, which stays all afternoon in the summer sun.
Soil: the land in Rio Sordo Barbaresco is predominantly limestone with frequent layers of clay, that gives thickness to the soil.
Exposition: south-west.
Altitude: between 240 and 270 meters above sea level.
Vinification: after harvesting by hand the grapes and putting in small containers, they are softly pressed and destemmed. The wine is made in the following way: the juice is fermented in steel tanks, after it performs the same path in barrels of 500 liters.
Maturation: the wine aging follows two phases: first, the wine spends a few months in barrels of 500 liters and after matures in larger barrels of 20 hectoliters. All this for about 12 months before bottling.
Bottling: Barbera d' Alba, after completing its time in the barrels, is bottled in the spring and summer of the second year after harvest. The bottles are then laid down and spend 5 or 6 months of aging before release on the market.
Tasting notes: the whole pride of Piedmont wine is summed up in the characteristics of this Barbera d'Alba: the intense garnet color with shades of ruby red hues; the scent is vinous, ethereal and decisively fruity, with notes of red fruit jam and brandied cherries along with toasty and spicy notes of cinnamon and vanilla. The taste is rich, warm, intense, with a good balance between alcohol and acidity and a structure that makes it resistant to time.
Food Pairings: it is the ideal wine for structured dishes and even some rustic plates: starting with appetizers, it already pairs well with meat dishes, especially pork; Then the first course of stuffed pasta with flavorful sauces; Finally, stewed or braised red meats and well-seasoned cheeses.
Ravish your palate with this fantastic wine by our friends at Musso!
P.S. Napoleone which is your favorite wine? (if you don't know who we are talking about look at their instagram..)
History of the vineyards and the wines of Barbaresco
In this village dedicated to wine, the Musso winery has developed its own history, whose features are often coincided with broader events that have marked the path of the entire society.
The Musso winery was founded in 1929 and coincides with one of the most critical moments of the Italian economy and the world, the year of the "Great Depression", that brought down myths and structures that seemed invincible. In those years it was difficult just to manage everyday life and to pool resources for survival.
Yet, Sebastiano Musso, born in 1906, did not lose heart. Even with being left alone at a young age from the untimely death of his father, he found the strength to fight back and establish a small winery in Barbaresco.
He didn't have a lot of ground, only “3 giornata piemontese” (a little more than one hectare, 2.62 giornata equal 1 hectare) one in the locality of Cavanna and one on the hillside of Ronchi. It was small, but enough to start. While he continued the work of the family, cultivating the vineyards, he started producing his own wine.
The following years were very difficult: those of World War II and after the war. Yet he managed to survive making wine and selling it, overcoming the difficulties and distances. Year after year, the markets were enlarged. In the early sixties he understood that it would take more grapes and help in the vineyards and winery to cultivate and produce. The light of progress began to show its reflections in the distance.
It was in the sixties that his son Augusto, who left some time before to Turin to seek a life in the city in the mechanical sector, thought of his decision and he knew it was time to return home. He didn't miss the city lights and knew there was a family and a winery waiting for
him in Barbaresco. His future was there to look after and follow the family business.
It was the beginning of 1968, the era of big bets in agriculture, especially in viticulture and oenology: Italy had passed its wine law of origin only a few years ago and this would give more certainty to those who produced and those who consumed, enhancing the quality of the wines.
It was in 1966 that Barbaresco, the wine to which his father Sebastiano had dedicated his life, had become a DOC wine and this recognition had created great interest for the wine.
With his return to the winery, Augusto brought the enthusiasm of youth. The winery benefited and in the following years, Sebastian and Augusto expanded their vineyards with the purchase of a plot on the hill of Pora and an entire farm in Rio Sordo.
Today, the stars are still the men and their generations . They do not contradict each other, but are in total synergy, highlighting the best capabilities of each.
First is Valter Musso, a young winemaker who joined the family winery in the mid-eighties, today is a mature man and head of the winery, overseeing the responsibilities in the vineyard and the winery to produce quality wine.
But he is not alone, there is also the next generation, his son Emanuele, who supports him with marketing the wine and his grandson, Luca Accornero, who takes care of the work in the vineyards.
INITIATIVE
At the entrance of Barbaresco, Via Domitius Cavazza 5, is still the home of the Musso Winery. Here is the cellar where the grapes are vinified, aged and when ready put in the bottle for final aging. Again here, the bottle assumes the final look, the elegant label that will accompany the wine its the way to the market.
Each step is performed in a dedicated environment, using the most appropriate containers to give the best quality to each wine: the steel tanks for vinification, wooden casks of various sizes, dedicated space in the cellar the maturation of the wine and the aging in the bottle before release.
Even the vineyards, about 10 hectares in all, are mainly in the hills of Barbaresco and planted with traditional varieties (Nebbiolo, Barbera, Dolcetto and Freisa) along with the universal Chardonnay. Musso 's vineyards are located in four of the most prestigious crus of Barbaresco: Pora, Rio Sordo, Ronchi and Cavanna.
There remains another varietal, Arneis, cultivated in the Roero beyond the river Tanaro, in Santo Stefano Roero. The winery cultivates the vineyard in collaboration with a winemaker in the Roero.
The main star of the winery is the Nebbiolo grape with about 50% of their total vineyard area. The remainder is divided among five other varieties.
The results of the work in the vineyard and in the cellar are about 80,000 bottles of wine per year on average. Barbaresco makes up 40%, a grand red wine with structure and long aging. Two types of Barbaresco are produced from different vineyards and two single crus: Pora and Rio Sordo.
Along with the Barbaresco there are four other reds and two whites: Langhe Nebbiolo DOC, a fragrant red wine that can be drunk younger.
Then, Barbera d' Alba DOC, Dolcetto d'Alba DOC and Langhe Freisa DOC. Finally, the two white wines, Langhe Chardonnay DOC and Roero Arneis DOCG.
