Poderi Rosso Giovanni Di Rosso Lionello

Lionello Rosso makes almost nothing but Barbera, and he makes five of them — San Bastian, Cascina Perno, Carlinet, Infine and Gioco dell'Oca — off twelve hectares on the hills above Agliano. Around 55,000 bottles a year, all from the one grape, each cru a slightly different argument about what Barbera d'Asti can be: San Bastian steel-only and bright for drinking young, the Superiori built to sit a few years. The wine ages in two cellars, a vaulted one from 1698 under the village and a newer one out at Cascina Perno, rebuilt in 2017.

Message Lionello ahead on WhatsApp and he'll usually find you a slot, even mid-harvest; he pours generously and sets out Grana Padano and salami while he talks. It's a small, third-generation family operation, not a polished visitor centre, and that's the appeal — you taste with the man who grew the grapes, in Italian, English or German. Ask him which hill each Barbera came from; he'll tell you, at length.