2020 Produttori Barbaresco Riserva Paje

Its Origins

"This vineyard is a small bowl facing South/West and it lies between the village itself and the famous Asili vineyard. However Pajè is slightly lower in altitude and the vineyard is more open to the Tanaro River influence resulting in a cooler microclimate. The soil is limestone with high calcium level. In result the wine combines elegance and complexity with intense tannins and it is never shy in acidity. The latter makes Pajè somehow sharper and brighter in its first years, with lovely youthful fruit and flowery notes, almost minty in cooler vintages. Pajè is particularly attractive after some ageing, when the wine still retains a fruitful and fresh palate. First vintage produced was 1967 as a small commemorative label for the "Cavalieri del Tartufo" association. Regular production started from the 1982 vintage." -- It took a sympathetic local priest to realise the only way for the community of Barbaresco to survive, in the poverty of the late 1950's, was for the winemakers to form a co-operative. The first 19 members made their wine in the church basement, but it didn't take long for this idea to provide them with solvency as well as solidarity. Quality too, as a more secure income allowed the individual growers to maintain the high standards they aspired to. Over decades the co-operative grew to it's current membership of 52, during which time it also developed an extensive and almost bewildering array of single vineyard offerings. Until recently the traditional labelling and less-than-dynamic global marketting strategy meant Produttori was strictly the preserve of experts. Nowadays however, as the world trawls Piedmont for both it's obvious and it's hidden gems, Produttori's delightfully backward labelling and proud obsession with qualtity are revealing it as one of the world's most profoundly undervalued wine treasures.