:: CASA BUFFETTO ::

For a long time it was felt that Barbera lacked any kind of history or noble lineage, almost as though wishing to associate it with those popular classes among whom it met with such widespread favour.
Well, perhaps in no other instance has any wine suffered such an injustice, since not only is there no lack of historical attestations of considerable note, but Barbera has a tradition and history such that its image is intrinsically linked with that of Asti and Monferrato.

The proposals calling for a history of Barbera must, obviously, start off from an etymological and semantic analysis of its name, as regards which there is no lack of surprises. Many are the different judgements expressed by the various researchers who have looked into the question and, in truth, the interpretation given by Olivieri (the most respected of them all) whereby the term barbera comes from the Latin word albuelis (meaning snow-white), does not at all match the characteristics of our wine. The Dizionario Enciclopedico Italiano defines Barbera as: "a Piedmontese word which, like the Lombard albéra , probably comes from the Latin word albuelis (variety of vine) juxtaposed to the toponym Barberis", which leaves one even more perplexed than ever.

An interesting theory, even though till now it has gained few followers, is the one put forward by the historian G. Aldo of Ricaldone, who, in a noteworthy publication edited by the Chamber of Commerce of Asti, managed to establish a close relationship between Barbera and the berbexina, or berbesina, vine, mention of which can be traced back to 1249 in the collection of papers to be found in Casale's capitular archives. Taking it for granted that the term Barbera had the same etymological root as the Piedmontese surnames Barbero and Barberis, the historian went on to study the age in which surnames were formed so as to find, through a comparison with historical records, other similar examples (Grisella, from the Piedmontese name for the gooseberry; Provano, from the dialectal term for the vine shoot) and, thanks to comments made by Manno regarding the coat of arms of the Counts Barberis of Brianzola, tracked down the original term to "Barberis vulgaris", designed on the aforementioned counts' coat of arms. From which it was easy to demonstrate the successive etymological passages and transformations: berberis – berbesina – berberisina – barbera.

One vine widely mentioned in the documents of Casale right since the 13 th century is berberixina, or berberisina. In an act dated 7 th November 1249 can be read " quod ipse Gulielmus Crosa et sui hederes debeant plantare suprascriptum cerbum de bonis vitibus berbexinis hoc anno presenti et dare et solvere annuatim (to the church of Sant'Evasio of Casale, which rents out the land to Crosa ) in perpetuum storia. Il et minam unam puri vini de illo vino quod exlerit de vinea plantata in predicto cerbo nuncio istius ecclesio in Casali ad tinam vel torcular primo vino quod exclerit de uvis predicte vince ".

Unfortunately, however, we cannot rely totally on this fascinating interpretation. In fact, while the author himself declared his surprise at finding, in the 1890 edition of Nouveau Larousse Illustré, the following definition under the heading Grignolino: " cépage noir cultivé dans le Piémont: on dit aussi Barbesino ", fairly recent studies have found that, taking Dalmasso and Ratti as their points of reference, the terms "barbisino" and "grignolino" were still being used as synonyms even at the beginning of this century. This does not sound like the last word on the subject, but rather will spur one on to carry out further and deeper studies into the question.

( Text by: "Proposte su una stroria del Barbera", Luciano Bertello and Govanni Minetti )