Grape: Barbera
Country: Italy
Region: Piemonte (Piedmont)
Barbera is widely planted in many regions of Italy, but I am focusing on Asti & Alba (2 towns/regions within Piedmont). Barbera is believed to be indigenous to Piemonte (Italian for Piedmont & pronounced Pee-uh-MON TAY). See Map Below
And so it begins, my quest to make you love Italian wine as much as I do. Yes, I live in California and I so enjoy going to Napa & Sonoma. However, given the choice on a Tuesday at the grocery store, I will always reach for an Italian bottle to go with dinner.
Italian wine does not always appeal to the typical American palate, primarily because, I believe Americans have been long bombarded with bottles of overly-jammy Australian wines and/or California oak bombs. Clearly there are appealing and beautifully crafted wines from almost every wine region in the world, so don't get your panties in a bunch if you love your California Cabernet or your Australian Shiraz. I just want to focus on the virtues of branching out, the virtues of Italian wine, and for today, the endearing simplicity of Barbera in particular.
The Italians have been drinking wine for centuries. They drink it every day and with their meals. Because of this, Italian wine has more acidity than some may be used to. However, when you consider the balanced fruit, the bright acidity and the restrained use of old oak, you have a wine that happily dances on your palate after your big bite of pasta and that crusty bread drenched in olive oil.
My favorite producers of all Piemonte wines are Produttori and Vietti. They use traditional wine-making techniques and I am always delighted with any bottle of either. Note: Vietti makes a Barbera from Asti & from Alba. Few things disappoint me more that when a producer changes their wine making style to fit an American palate, trading what makes Barbera, and other Italian grapes so charming for an overly-oaked bastardization. The bottle I photographed this morning is a $5 bottle from Trader Joe's that I am excited to try tonight with my shrimp vodka sauce pasta. So there. You certainly can't assume me a snob if I am excited about a $5.99 Barbera!
Admittedly, Barbera can sometimes be thin and uninteresting, but more often, I find it to be an approachable, easy drinking wine with berry fruit on the front and comforting earthy tones on the finish. And the worst bottle of Barbera I have ever tried was leagues above other inexpensive wines. Barbera is a fun wine to add to your repertoire. I have never subscribed to the notion of repeatedly drinking the same 3 or 4 bottles of "favorite" wines over and over. My motto: if a wine looks weird, unfamiliar or something I have never tried, it goes in the cart! If I hate it, no big loss. I just add guava nectar, fruit slices and Pelligrino to it and it becomes Sangria. If, however, I happen to enjoy or even love it, I have a new interesting wine friend that I would have never discovered if I had played it safe every time I drank wine.
Buy a Barbera from Asti and Alba and compare. Typically, and again there is great variation, Asti is somewhat lighter in style while Alba can be a little fleshier. Try different price points, put them in brown bags and do a blind tasting with a group of friends. Get crazy and throw a Barbera from Lombardy in the mix, just for shits & giggles.
CIAO & SALUTE!
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