Marco Bonfante La Stella Barbera D'Asti

The Bonfante family has been producing wines in Nizza Monferrato (AT), Piedmont, since 8 generations, in an area that represents the area of excellence for the production of Barbera d'Asti and which in 2014 obtained the "Nizza DOCG" designation. The Marco Bonfante winery was founded in 2000 when the brothers Micaela and Marco Bonfante decided to start their own production process, this happens following the death of their father Domenico and the subsequent split of the winery he founded in which they already actively operated. The winery is a family-run company; Marco, graduated from the Oenological School of Alba, is the wine maker and deals with the production and management of the company at 360 degrees, assisted by an oenologist consultant Gianluca Scaglione, by an agronomist Daniele Eberle and by a certified laboratory of analysis the Bio-Chemical, while the administrative and shipment management is the responsibility of her sister Micaela.

The production philosophy reflects Bonfante's signature taste which is based on Marco's intuitions and preferences, made of simplicity and clarity. “Wines must be elegant.” Structure, fruit, harmony and complexity are sought in red wines. The different vineyards and the grapes are selected and separated during the harvest, allocating them to different processes, both of vinification and of refinemant, depending on the goal to be achieved. The common point is always the balance between structure, acidity and alcohol.

GRAPE VARIETY: 100% Barbera

50% of the yield follows a process of cold maceration, which allows to extract more noble components from the fruit. The other 50% of the yield follows the traditional process of vinification: grapes are destalked and soft-pressed and then left on the skins for 10 days.
After that the Stella Rossa is aged for a 50% in Slavonian oak barrels and the other 50% in French oak used barriques for 10 months.

In the glass the Stella Rossa shows a bright purple-red. It has a winy bouquet, with scents of red fruits like cherries and marasca cherry, and a very delicate vanilla note. On the palate it is dry, full-bodied, structured, with the acidity typical of this variety. It’s persistent and the tannins are well balanced.