Tenuta La Pergola Monferrato Rosso 2021

If the French have bistro wine, then the Italian equivalent must surely be trattoria wine: a light, fresh, all-purpose libation that you would expect to be served from a carafe in a homey little family-run joint along a winding country road. Light, vibrant, juicy, versatile, and joyous: a red with some good acidity and just enough tannic spine. A red table wine from Piedmont made mostly from Barbera and a supporting cast of Bonarda, Dolcetto and Freisa, grown in sand and limestone soils around the picturesque hillside town of Cisterna d’Asti. Monferrato Rosso is the quintessential house wine.

In the town of Cisterna d'Asti, Alessandra Bodda now runs the estate her great-grandfather founded in 1903, farming thirty hectares of indigenous Piemontese varieties with the help of her son Emanuele, and daughter, Martina. The sandy and clay soils of the Roero and Monferrato, where their vineyards are situated, give softer wines than the marl-dominated terroirs of the neighboring Langhe, creating aromatic wines that bestow immediate pleasure.

50% Barbera, 18% Dolcetto, 17.5% Bonarda, 11% Freisa, 3.5% Croatina