Michele Chiarlo Barbera d’Asti Palás 2024
£15.25
The wine
The coolest of the Chiarlo Barberas. A fruity, cherry-scented wine whose ripe red berried fruit is a vibrant expression of the grape. Harmonious with great freshness, and a clean, elegant finish.
Barbera is the everyday red of Piedmont, planted far more widely than Nebbiolo and drunk while the Nebbiolo sleeps. It is naturally high in acidity and low in tannin, which makes it unusually versatile at the table. Palas is the unoaked, immediate expression, fermented and aged in stainless steel to keep the fruit forward.
The producer
Michele Chiarlo
View all Michele Chiarlo winesFounded at Calamandrana in 1956 and now run by Michele Chiarlo's sons Alberto and Stefano, this is one of Piedmont's most decorated houses. Michele himself came from a family of growers in the Monferrato and built the estate outward from Barbera country into the great Nebbiolo hills.
The family hold parcels in two of the finest Barolo crus, Cannubi and Cerequio, and in La Court at Nizza, the small appellation carved out of Barbera d'Asti in 2014 for its best hillside sites. Every vineyard is farmed sustainably to Equalitas certification. The house philosophy is that oak should be used judiciously so the vineyard speaks first, which in Piedmont has not always been the fashion.
Chiarlo has also done more than most to argue that Barbera deserves serious treatment rather than being the grape Piedmont drinks while waiting for its Nebbiolo. The Barolo and Barbera wines draw 90-plus scores from Wine Advocate, James Suckling and Wine Enthusiast year after year, and in 2025 Michele Chiarlo was named European Producer of the Year at the Sommelier Wine Awards.
