Flavio Roddolo is one of those true originals you can still find in Langhe hills.  From his tiny, careworn cellar and farmhouse on the Bricco Appiani hilltop near Monforte d’Alba, he produces all of 20,000 bottles annually of truly original, truly unique wines from a mere six hectares of vineyard aged from 15 years to over 75.  Though he could never be bothered to undertake what is required to register as an organic farmer, his vineyards haven’t seen chemical additions of any sort in forty plus years and he makes wine exactly as his father before him.  The cellar is about as primitive as it gets- no computers, no stainless steel tank farms, no rows of just-arrived small oak barrels from France.  This is a throwback cellar if ever there was one- what many cellars looked like when I first started traveling here 30 years ago.  And Flavio releases his wines whenever he damn well pleases; like his 2012 Barbera d’Alba Superiore of which we only now have in his hands. Everything in the cellar is a hodgepodge of back vintages and only he seems to know where anything is.  Where you can also find them- if you’re lucky- is on the best wine lists in the region.  He’s a great source of mature old school classics and the sommeliers and restaurant owners all know where to find 10 or 15 year old wines for their customers.  In fact it was a recommendation from the owner of a small restaurant in Monforte where I had my first bottle- a 1998 Barolo Ravera!  Flavio’s wines are a lot like he is: Brooding, a little introverted, a little grumpy perhaps?  That is until you got to know them, until they’ve been open in your glass for a while and they begin to warm up and show their personalities.  That’s when they begin to emerge as the true originals for which they are. Time has done a bit to burnish the edges of what must have been a very muscular Barbera a dozen years ago.  It still drinks incredibly young with its brilliant color only a shade duskier now. The fruit is still brilliant, intense and introverted but, as it crawls out of the glass, it’s all purple plums, clove-y spice, blood orange, mulberry and a hit of loamy earth.  It’s truly a wine of place- you can almost smell the dried earth beneath the vines, the ions in the air before a storm over the Langhe and even the smells of Flavio’s old cellar.  Love it!  Barbera is, by nature, not a tannic grape, but its amazing natural acidity and the sheer concentration of fruit has given it an impressive structure that, even now, only promises more development in the bottle.  But why wait?  Though it would certainly be a lovely partner to richer pasta dishes and braised or grilled meats, I would reserve this very special bottling for a simple plate of hazelnuts, some dried fruit and maybe a lovely old piece of Castelmagno cheese.