Vajra - Barbera D’Alba Superiore - 2021

G.D. Vajra farms in Vergne, the highest hamlet in the Barolo commune, and has been organic since 1971 -- the first estate in the zone to go that route. Aldo Vajra founded the winery in 1972 and named it for his father; today his wife Milena and their three kids run it alongside him. This Barbera d'Alba Superiore gets a touch of French oak, which lifts a grape usually built for simple, juicy drinking into something with real structure. Pour it with red-sauce Sunday dinner. Ruby red with purple edges. Plum and sour cherry up front, dark chocolate and mocha underneath, lavender and sweet spice from the oak. Round and full-bodied, juicy fruit, powerful acid, fine tannins, elegant finish.