Barbera Wines Play Catch-Up to Noble Neighbors in Taste Test
Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Barbera is Italy's third-most-planted red grape, and that ain't good. Too much production for too long has given this Piedmontese wine a decidedly second-class image, especially when compared with the region's ``noble'' Barolos and Barbarescos from the nebbiolo grape.
Barbera still constitutes more than half of the DOC, or area-designated, red wine made in Piedmont. Yet barbera is getting better, particularly in the zones of Asti and Alba, which tend to be warmer and promote better ripening.
Acidity has always been high in barbera, and alcohol low, only 11 percent to 12 percent. Until recently, it would be difficult to describe a ``typical'' barbera style except as a pleasant, acidic wine, with low tannins, that goes well with the foods of the region -- boiled meats, stuffed pastas and risotto cooked with red wine.
Good examples have an earthy quality; bad ones have very little flavor at all.
Things began to change in the 1970s. Bucking hundreds of years of tradition, Giacomo Bologna began restricting grape yield and aged his barberas in small oak casks, resulting in bigger, more intense examples. His Bricco dell'Uccellone is now considered one of Italy's finest wines, with recent vintages selling for $50 to $70, though I'm not sure what a bottle of Bricco will tell you about typical barberas.
As so often happens among Italian vintners, once a colleague hits the big money, they begin to believe their wines should cost in the same range, with several wholly mediocre bottlings selling for $40 and up.
Higher Alcohol
I recently tasted a wide variety of barberas from the Alba region with a wide variety of foods, none particularly complex. The acid component is always front and center on the palate on first sip -- this is not a wine for an aperitif -- and the style and complexity of most of them didn't develop until I had them with food. What's significant is that all were at least 13 percent alcohol, two at a whopping 14.5 percent, which shows how better grapes lead to more intensity.
The 2005 Giovanni Rosso ($20) was more tannic than I expected, though the acids were also pronounced. It took an hour or so to loosen up, and it never really mellowed out. Perhaps it will develop over the next year, but I couldn't discern its charms on an August evening with sauteed chicken breast.
A 2004 Attilio Ghisolfi Barbera Vigna Lisi D'Alba ($24) was a year older than the Giovanni Rosso, yet it had no nose and tasted quite bland -- a wine I thought should cost about $10. Then, the next day at lunch, I tasted it again and it had improved somewhat, exposing a richer content and pleasing cherry flavors.
Oak, Tannin
Giacomo Conterno is one of the best-known Piedmontese producers (not to be confused with another fine vintner, Aldo Conterno), and his 2005 Barbera d'Alba ($47) had quite a vegetal bouquet, blossoming into a delicious, medium-bodied wine with some oakiness and good tannins. If not a blissful wine, it is a good modern example from a tradition-minded producer.
The 2005 E. Pira & Figli Barbera d'Alba was a happy surprise, especially at the very reasonable price of $26. It was fragrant right from the first sniff, unusually floral, with a far better balance of acid and tannin than other examples. This is an Italian red wine I could drink again and again.
A 2004 Mascarello Giuseppe e Figlio ($50) was even more enjoyable, a big wine that was warm and velvety, filling the mouth with fruit and acid in fine equilibrium. Worth $50? Well, it's the equal of Bricco dell'Uccellone, which usually costs somewhat more.
Fruit From the Farm
One of the most respected Piedmontese winemakers and consultants is Renato Ratti, so I expected to find his Torriglione big and bountiful with fruit. Amazingly, it was a 2006 -- less than two years old -- and cost only $19, yet it brimmed with fruit and had the faint, farm-like back taste I'd missed in so many other examples. A fine wine at a very good price.
Seghesio ($17) was another 2006, and its freshness and bright fruit was on its side, too. It had a sumptuous bouquet, followed by a lush, big style, very easy to drink, perfect to pair with my thick cheeseburger.
Maybe, just maybe, barberas are better when they are younger. As I thought about this, I remembered those times in Piedmont when I would eat a plate of agnolotti in broth, accompanied by a rustic, simple barbera d'Alba. I was very contented then and didn't want to be impressed. Now, having gone through a slew of modern examples, I will expect better.