Wine and local products

Last update 27 November 2018

The vine cultivation is the one that prevails on the hills of Vinchio, from which are obtained grapes of excellent quality that allow to produce excellent white and red wines.

Among these stands out the incomparable BARBERA grape, which represents the tradition and history of our country. So important to be considered an area of ​​elective origin, “la Barbera di Vinchio”, the Barbera of Vinchio, became so popular and well-known to be confused with a legal appellation, even if it should deserve this!

Warm and robust, pleasantly pungent and tantalizing, the Barbera d’Asti is a wine of great flexibility, very versatile and consequently suitable for many occasions and combinations. The best way to enjoy it and appreciate its characteristics is to combine it with the most suitable foods: cold cuts, bagna cauda sauce, ​​pasta and beans, meats, cheeses and so on.

For a long time, Barbera has been considered a popular wine. Lately, however, a new phase has begun. Our producers, motivated by a strong competition with the other great piedmontese red wines and with the rest of the world, have faced and posed the problem of quality.

The quality wine production depends on a series of measures that can be concentrated in a production philosophy, but is based on three fundamental elements: a) the variety of grapes, b) the climate and soil factor, c) the human factor, the techniques of vine cultivation and wine production.

The grape variety can be transplanted anywhere, production technologies, skills, even the most sophisticated, can be learned easily. The only element that is not reproducible is the “terroir” and the area where the vine is grown, the climate togheter with the soil factor, which is what affects the character of these masterpieces.

Thanks to our microclimate, the exposure of our the slopes and hills, the nature of the land, composed of white soil that give strong wines, rich in color and body and sandy soils that give perfumes and bouquet, we can state with pride to produce one of the best red wines in the world, the BARBERA d'ASTI produced on the hills of Vinchio.

Produttori vinicoli (accedi alla pagina)

LOCAL PRODUCTS

When the sea went out from these valleys the first hills (bricchi) that saw the sun were probably those of Vinchio and Noche. Then, millions of years ago, in the deepest gorges of the Sarmassa valley, fin whales and dolphins chased each other with their shiny belly.

But up there beyond the line of water that divided the sky from the earth, the highest hills, such as Montedelmare, Bricco dell'Olmo, Bricco dei Saraceni, were already islands that absorbed extraordinary energies from the sun. Perhaps for this reason that even today, all the things that this land produces are so rich in flavors and aromas, a concentration of unique and unrepeatable tastes.

The wines, a great example, masterpieces with a strong personality, well structured, full of colors and enveloping aromas. A magical result of the work of the winemakers of the winery, which is very similar in character, but also of the optimal geographical situation, the climate, the soil of the vineyards.

The following DOC and DOCG wines are produced: Nizza, Barbera d'Asti Superiore, Barbera d'Asti, Barbera del Monferrato, Cortese of Alto Monferrato, Freisa d'Asti, Grignolino d'Asti, Dolcetto, Freisa, Bonarda, Brachetto, Chardonnay and Moscato d’Asti.

How about the truffles, with their mysterious origin, an indefinable flavor, a penetrating aroma that awakens the senses and ancestral memories. Those that are found here, and that end up on the tables of the most famous restaurants in Italy and abroad, have “the crown”, a kind of diadem, almost to emphasize their origin of nobility.

Finally, the tasty sarecen asparagus, the third of our jewels, with its beautiful deep green color, fleshy, compact and rich in organoleptic qualities.

THE ASPARAGUS

The asparagus belongs to Asparagaceae plant family which, when fully developed, has annual stems, thin, very ramified, 2 to 3 meters tall.

The asparagus consumed as a vegetable are the young soft stems growing from a cluster of slightly enlarged roots (legs). For cultivation, we need loose and drained soil, enriched with good organic fertilizer.

Asparagus grows optimally on Vinchio hills; these produced here are called " Saracen Asparagus " because of the hill, where greater quantities is grown, it is called “Bricco dei Saraceni”, name given to the area where in 935 a battle between the Berber invaders and the Aleramic troops took place.

For many years, Vinchio has dedicated a festival to the Asparagus which has now become a classic event.

The event takes place the first Sunday of May; during the weekend, as well as buying the delicious vegetable from local producers, you can enjoy meals prepared by talented local chefs, offering a rich menu based on asparagus and other typical local produces.

Asparagus is an unique and well appreciated food, more often prepared as a dish on its own but even as a side dish.

The asparagus can be prepared in diffferent ways: parmigiana style, simply boiled and  dipped in oil or with special sauces.

The best way, the local suggestion is with the addition of eggs even know ad “spors mariò” , married asparagus, married to the eggs!