Since its first vintage in 1983 Clerico Arte was an innovative wine. Blended by Domenico Clerico and Marc de Grazia together, this Nebbiolo/Barbera blend wine was originally an experimental lab for Domenico while he began learning to use French oak barriques to mature his wines in. While a common practice today, back then the push to make cleaner, more elegant wines was revolutionary and there was little to no experience with Nebbiolo aged in barrique. Arte was the original Super-Piemontese wine that became a cult wine in Northern Italy and around the world. Today it's less about experimenting and just about a wonderfully complex, yet elegant wine made mostly with Nebbiolo, and a small percentage of Barbera. It's extremely approachable for Nebbiolo and has a darker, slightly sweeter fruit component than Barolo. It's a wonderful wine for someone to begin learning about the powerful nature of Nebbiolo and wines from the Barolo area without taking on a Barolo first; which can take some time to build an appreciation for. TASTING NOTES This blend of 90% Nebbiolo and 10% Barbera is aged for 20 months in new French oak. Plentiful aromas of toasty oak, red currant, leather, cedar and spice box from the core of this medium weight red.
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