Established in 1993 by Tino Colla (brother of the legendry Beppe Colla) and his niece Federica, Poderi Colla is very much a family affair and continues the Colla family's three centuries of winemaking heritage in northern Italy. Tino and Federica believe in a non-interventionist approach to winemaking, to give each wine a unique expression of site and vintage, and they take sustainability and the environment as seriously as their wines. They produce wines from three outstanding sites in Alba and cover nearly the entire spectrum of Alba styles - using their own grapes from vineyards in Bricco del Drago, Tenuta Roncaglie (Barbaresco) and Tenuta Dardi le Rose (Barolo). The wines are balanced, rich and complex.

The Barbera grapes for this wine were cultivated in a vineyard in Poderi Colla's Tenuta Roncaglia estate, a 13 hectare estate (8 of which are under vine) south of the village of Barbaresco. The vineyard faces west and has an altitude is 250 metres above sea level. Vine density is 5,500 plants per hectare and the average annual yield is 4,500 litres. Part of the vineyard was replanted in 1995: about a half a hectare maintained the old vines, planted in 1930, which yields a tiny crop of superlative quality, with small bunches of small, wide-apart berries, intensely coloured, succulent and extremely sweet.

The grapes are always harvested by hand and placed into small baskets. Harvesting generally takes place between the 20th to 30th September. The hand-picked grapes are immediately destalked and pressed. The grapes are fermented, and given a 10/12-day maceration on the skins at a maximum temperature of 30 degrees Centigrade. Malolactic fermentation follows and is completed before the winter. The wine is matured for 8 to 12 months in Slavonian and French oak cases (partly new) before undergoing a light fining and racking before bottling.

Match with pasta with a meaty sauce, flans, hearty stews and red meats.