Barbera d'Alba Vigna Martina Municipality of production: Monforte d'Alba Grape: Barbera First vintage: 1988 Number of bottles produced each year: 12,000 Vineyard area under vine: 2.2 hectares Aspect and height above sea level: south-facing, 380 metres Soil type: moderately loose-packed, slightly sandy, limestone-based Vine training system and planting density: Guyot-trained at 4,500 vines per hectare. Average age of productive vines: 15 years Grape yield per hectare at harvest: 60 quintals Harvest period and method: last 10 days of September and first 10 days of October, manual harvest. The vinification procedure for Barbera d'Alba Vigna Martina involves fermentation for 12-15 days in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks, with daily pumping over. After malolactic fermentation in steel, the wine is racked into half-new, half one-year-old French oak barriques to mature for 12 months. After bottling, the wine stays in the binning cellar for at least 8 months before release.