Asili, Montefico, Montestefano, Muncagota, Ovello, Pajè, Pora, Rabajà and Rio Sordo are giants among red wines and they need little introduction to lovers of Barbaresco but if you haven't heard of (or tried) these exceptional dry, full bodied, long lived reds, now's the time. This week we landed the much anticipated new 2015 Produttori del Barbaresco cru wines in store at Regional Wines. It's no mean feat to see their arrival after all that has happened in the world this year. These outstanding northern Italian reds are made in very good vintages only from 100% Nebbiolo grapes from the 50 quality minded growers at the Produttori.

It's been said that tasting the nine single vineyard wines from Produttori del Barbaresco is like walking the hills on which the grapes grow. It's an apt idea, especially right now because armchair travel is not only the safest way to see the world, it's the only way. 

This particular corner of Italy is one of our favourite wine regions because it's home to the Nebbiolo grape (pictured below), described as "Italy's greatest native grape and, by most expert accounts, one of the world's five or six great cultivars," writes award winning author Ian d'Agata in Italy's Native and Traditional Grapes. 

The nine single vineyard Produttori del Barbarescos are produced in good vintages only, which means there is higher production of the regional Produttori del Barbaresco made in other years. It, too, is a very good to outstanding wine and it offers exceptionally good value for money. Barbaresco is a red wine only appellation of just 700 hectares and wine from here doesn't come cheap, so we appreciate the relative affordability (especially when coupled with the high quality) from Produttori del Barbaresco. The 50 growers all own land on these highly revered vineyards; Asili, Montefico, Montestefano, Muncagota, Ovello, Pajè, Pora, Rabajà and Rio Sordo. The growers' names are on the labels each vintage the wines are made, as is the number of bottles produced from each single vineyard cru. It's this transparency, the consistent high quality and the outrageously seductive style of Barbaresco that all spin our wheels and once bitten, you'll be on a quest to possess these wines too. 

Be in quick... and look here online to explore the range...

You will also see we have a smattering of bottles from a couple of back vintages, often only one or to left.

The company that is Produttori del Barbaresco is something of a rarity among wine cooperatives because it employs one winemaker to produce all the wines along the same exacting guidelines, using identical winemaking methods, maturation vessels and duration of aging in its strictly defined riserva wine programme. This gives these wines the chance not only to shine but to accurately and faithfully reflect the sites from which they come. A tasting of all is to see their terroir in its purest form. They are released after four years of aging in the riserva programme and were first produced in 1967.

* Produttori del Barbaresco can trace its history back to 1894 when it was founded as the Cantine Sociali dei Barbaresco by Domizio Cavazza, headmaster of the Royal Enological School of Alba and a Barbaresco resident. He brought nine Barbaresco vineyard owners together to make wine in the local castle he bought when he was on a mission to raise the quality bar of Barbaresco's wines. The Cantine Sociali closed in the 1930s due to fascist economic rules and it was reopened in 1958 when the priest of the village of Barbaresco saw it was the only way small properties could survive - by joining forces. This winery may be a cooperative but its production standards are exceptionally high.