Maurizio Ferraro #DuePazzi Rosso 2016

Maurizio Ferraro's #DuePazzi is 100% Barbera grown organically on the hills surrounding Montemagno in the Monferrato area of Piedmont. The name translates to "two crazy people" and the label is Maurizio's own wedding invitation card. The grapes were hand-picked in the 2016 vintage, and the wine was then refermented in 2018 in contact with partially fermented Barbera 2018 pomace — a technique analogous to the ripasso method used in Valpolicella, where a base wine is passed over grape skins from another fermentation to extract additional color, sugar, and structure.

Maurizio has farmed organically since the early 2000s and converted to fully natural winemaking in 2006. He is a member of the French organization S.A.I.N.S. (Sans Aucun Intrant Ni Sulfite), which requires producers to use zero additives of any kind. His vineyards are tended manually under protocols certified by ICEA, the EU-recognized organic certifying body. No chemicals or irrigation are used in the vineyard. In the cellar: only indigenous yeast fermentation, no temperature control, no fining, no filtration, and no added SO2.

Barbera is Monferrato's dominant red grape and is believed to be native to these exact hills. The refermentation on 2018 pomace gives this wine more depth, body, and extract than a standard Barbera vinification, pushing it beyond the grape's typically lighter register. Expect dark fruit concentration, sharper-than-usual acidity, and a rustic, smoky complexity that sets it apart from conventional Monferrato Barbera.