100% Barbera. The Barbera is one of the most widely planted grape varieties in Italy, and with the Dolcetto, is the representative vine of Piedmont. It accounts for 52 percent of the region's acreage under vine, and nearly half the total annual production of red wine, averaging 2,457,000 hectolitres. There is a proliferation of Barberas produced within Piedmont, designated according to geographic area, as well as a number of new wines based on the Barbera grape which are vinified white, rose and sparkling in various degrees of sweetness. However, only four Barbera wines have been given DOC status: those of Alba, Monferrato, Colli Tortonesi and Asti, grown in the provinces of Cuneo, Alessandria and Asti, in southern Piedmont. Together, they comprise only fifteen to twenty-five percent of the annual Barbera production. Although the Barbera vine is believed to have originated in the Monferrato area from a spontaneous cross of seeds from ancient vines, it is generally agreed that the area producing the best Barbera wines is that of Asti. This small zone immediately surrounds and extends to the north of Asti, Nizza Monferrato and Calamandrana. The excellent southerly-exposed vineyards, lying on limestone and clay soils, produce the most elegant and refined of all Barberas, which in lesser designations can be rustic, acidic wines.

Michele Chiarlo selects his Barbera d'Asti from the best of these vineyards planted in older vines and harvested at peak maturity. Vinified at the Chiarlo cellars in Calamandrana, the wine undergoes malolactic fermentation and is then aged a least one year in oak.

The wine producing firm of Michele Chiarlo was founded in 1956 by the sole and present owners, Michele and Giuseppina Chiarlo. Son of over seven generations of esteemed wine growers, Mr. Chiarlo is today one of the most respected producers of the fine wines of Piedmont and a leading figure in its viticultural industry. The present firm's foundation was built on the business of Mr. Chiarlo's father, then comprised of the estate's vineyards and family home, in Calamandrana, and the cellars and bottling facility, at nearby Susa. Since then its growth, focused on producing wines of the highest pedigree, has foreshadowed the continuing quest for quality on the part of so many of Italy's conscientious producers. The firm's early years were difficult ones; prior to the establishment of the Denominazione di Origine Controllata laws, establishing a reputation for consistently superior quality was a long proposition for a new producer. Excellent, small-production wines often went unrecognized in the absence of a universal and uniform system of classification which set forth methods, varieties and zones, a system which, ironically, has today been outdistanced by many producers.

Michele Chiarlo did not abandon his philosophy. Rigorous selection of the best grapes from only the most reputable growers in the most favored vineyard areas and longer aging in oak and then in bottle prior to release were measures he adopted precursing DOC laws. Instituted in 1963, these laws led to the original name of the wines, "Granduca," as distinct from the name of the firm, "Cantine Duca d'Asti," since they prohibited the inclusion of a legal denomination in a trademarked wine name. Michele Chiarlo is also credited with being one of the first producers to introduce malolactic fermentation to Italy, thereby achieving wines of greater stability, lower acidity and easier accessibility in their youth.

At the production and vineyard level, where quality begins, Michele Chiarlo has for thirty years pursued an endless search for control over the finest vineyard sites in each of the zones from which he produces his wines. Perhaps the crown jewel among these is the vineyard of Fornace di Tassarolo in the Rovereto area of Gavi, a small parcel planted in 1910 which yields a brilliant and intense Gavi of exquisite refinement. He also has long-term agreements with the owners of two spectacular vineyards in the Castiglione Falleto and Serralunga crus of Barolo, from which he produces Barolo Riserva Rocche di Castiglione and Barolo Riserva Vigna Rionda di Serralunga. In addition to these contracts, he has also purchased the Antico Podere Averame in the Cerequio cru of Barolo, considered one of the zone's finest Nebbiolo vineyards; and an estate, also in Barolo in the cru of Cannubi, which due to its extremely sharp gradient had never been cultivated. With considerable captial investment, this vineyard has been terraced and brought into production, the first time such a project has ever been undertaken in Piedmont.

In 1995, Michele Chiarlo acquired the estate of Azienda Agricola Aluffi in Castelnuovo Calcea, considered to the most beautiful and prestigious property in the heart of the classic Barbera d'Asti zone. The estate is comprised of two separate vineyard holdings, La Court and Il Castello, with a total area of 62 acres of which 50 are planted in Barbera vines, quite extensive for this area. The principally southwest and easterly-exposed slopes support superb, calcium and mineral rich soils which are of ideal composition for the production of great Barbera d'Asti.

Michele Chiarlo directly manages or personally oversees every aspect in the production of his wines. Eminently qualified through the expertise acquired through his involvement with the company under his father, he also holds a degree from the prestigious School of Enology at Alba, from which he graduated in 1955. His ceaseless innovation, both in production and in marketing, has gained him the respesct of his industry. He is a counselor of long standing representing Piedmont in the Unione Italiana Vini; President of the Italian Union of Exporters of Wines; past President of the regional Consortium for Quality Control and Promotion supporting Barbera d'Asti, Barbera del Monferrato, and Grignolino del Monferrato; and in the mid-1980s assumed a founding position on the board of directors of the then newly-created Italian Wine and Food Institute, focused on the discriminating promotion of quality Italian wines and foodstuffs in the United States. Since the early 1990s, Michele Chiarlo's sons, Alberto and Stefano, have entered the firm in positions which will lead to their eventually assuming full responsibility. Alberto, the elder, directs marketing and sales; Stefano, an enologist by profession, manages vineyard operations and collaborates in production in the cellars.