Tenuta Il Cascinone

Il Cascinone is Araldica's own estate — 102 hectares on the Acqui hills, about seventy of them under vine, bought by the Araldica group in 2001 and rebuilt around a new cantina in 2004. The warm southwest slopes carry Barbera, with a little Merlot and Cabernet for blending; the cooler northeast faces are left to the aromatics, Brachetto and Moscato.

Barbera d'Asti Superiore is the point of the place. The Rive and Crocera bottlings, aged in barrique and big Slavonian and French casks, are what most people meet under the Il Cascinone or Araldica label. There's an Alta Langa too — the Alasia, a metodo classico from Chardonnay and Pinot Nero. It's a production estate more than a cellar door, so the tastings you'll find tend to run through Araldica's enoteca rather than a walk-in here.