Winephabet Street Season 2 Episode 2: B is for Barbera

Welcome to Winephabet Street Season 2 Episode 2 B is for Barbera

Winephabet Street is a monthly series where Lori Budd of Draceana Wines and I work our way through the alphabet exploring wine and wine regions one letter at a time. The show is live on the third Monday at 8pm and is free, but you must register to attend. Put it on your calendar, pour yourself a glass of wine and hang out with us.

This month we visit Italy and the Barbera grape. The Barbara Grape is grown in the Piedmont region of Italy. The hills of Monferrato are considered its native home. It is said that the best Barbera comes from Barbera d’Asti - DOCG and Barbera d’Alba. Barbera is a late-ripening grape and retains acidity even when fully ripe. The high acidity is the hallmark of this grape. It’s light-bodied with low tannins.

Flavors you can get from Barbera are: Strawberry, raspberry, red and black cherry, blackberry tartness, plum, toast, vanilla, sour cherry, spice. Interesting that winemakers began introducing Barbera to oak in the 1980s and it tames the acidity. It also brings some vanilla, spice and oak to the wine. The oak makes the wine rounder, softer, a bit more complex and makes it age-worthy.

Join us in this episode as Lori and I both have wines from two different regions. See how we compare and learn a little about Barbera.

Terre del Barollo - 2017 Barbera d’ Alba

For this episode, I visited Viscount Liquor in Fishkill, NY and purchased a bottle of 2017 Terre del Barolo Barbera d’ Alba.

Cantina Terre del Barolo was founded in 1958 when Arnaldo Rivera who was Castiglione Falletto’s mayor decided to set up a cooperative with 21 local growers. Today they represent all 11 villages that make up the appellation with more than 300 members and 650 hectares.

This Barbera is grown in the Langhe area in calcareous clay. It was handpicked and the maximum yield is 10 tons hectare.No oak - it spent 3-4 months in stainless steel before bottling.

Tasting notes: Raspberry, blackberry with minerality on the palate. The wine is light in body with light acidity.

Learn more about the Barbera and the wines we reviewed by listening to the podcast or watch the webinar below.

For more episodes of Winephabet Street visit http://winephabetstreet.com/

The Webinar  

The Podcast

Wine Word Wednesday - Barbera

2 Italian Wines: Compare and Contrast

What do you pair with two Italian wines, one a young Barbera and one a Dolcetto both from the Piedmont region of Italy?  Leftover Filet Mignon and Pasta.

Neither of these wines saw any oak.  All aged in stainless steel.  They both reacted differently to the dinner at hand.

Brangero 2012 Dolcetto di Diano D'Alba is made by third generation winemaker Marco. It had a hint of smokiness on the nose.  Also flavors of black cherry, blueberry and anise.  The palate was fruity and balanced with some tannins.  Flavors of red fruit and slight acidity. Goes very well with the pasta and tomato sauce

The wine tasted great with the cold Filet Mignon.  Also tried it with provolone and Locatelli cheese.  It mellowed out the sharpness on the provolone.

Roagna Barbera D'Alba 2014 is also produced by a Marco.  This wine has the potential to age for 5 years.Aromas coming from the bottle were full of cherry and blackberries. The palate was soft and silky full fo sour cherry,, strawberry and plum.

The wine paired very well with the Filet Mignon.  The wine rolls over the flavor of the sharp provolone but not the sharpness of the cheese.

Compare and Contrast:

1. Both wines were made by a Marco
2. Both wines come from the Piedmont region of Italy
3. Both wines went very well with the Filet Mignon
4. The Dolcetto paired better with the pasta
5. The Dolcetto was a better food wine
6. Both wines are priced around $18