Autinbej Barbaresco 2021
Ca del Baio

$25.99 on 6+ bottles (code: 6saves3)
$28.99 reg

This is one of the BEST SELLING wines in the shop the past 4 years and a HUGE rebuy! This is one of the best red wine values BAR NONE out of the Piemonte right now! Drinkable now but with the stuffing to age gracefully in the cellar.

91 pts Vinous - Galloni
The 2021 Barbaresco Autinbej is bright, vibrant and effusive. A blend of mostly Marcarini with some fruit from Ferrere and Montersino, the Autinbej offers up scents of pipe tobacco, cedar, mint, dried flowers and licorice, all in a deceptively mid-weight style that is quite appealing. There's lovely energy and focus here. The 2021 opens beautifully with a bit of air.  - By Antonio Galloni on September 2024

Tradition speaks through Autinbej, it evokes a bygone era when such wines were the union of Nebbiolo grapes from the best, sunniest parts of different crus. Autinbej is a tribute to Giulio Grasso’s late father, Ernesto, who often used the Piemontese word to describe the best vineyard exposures. The first Autinbej harvest was in 2014, a year generally considered difficult in other parts of Piemonte and Italy, but successful in the small enclave of the Barbaresco denomination thanks to very favorable climatic conditions that year.

Planting of vineyards: between 1957 and 1999
Type of soil: bluish clayey-limestone marl
Position: facing south-west
Harvest: between the end of September and the beginning of October (2015 was an earlier pick)
Vinification and Aging: The destemmed and pressed grapes ferment on the skins in temperature-controlled steel tanks for 5 to 30 days. The wine then matures in wood for 24 months, partly in oak casks and partly in small used French barrels, before continuing its aging in the bottle for 6 months.