On the Lash

On the Lash,

Yesterdays foray into the Mestre wine world was without rhyme or reason and without a real stand out wine. Myself and a friend took it upon ourselves to try out the various wine bars stumbling roughly between my red hot 35°c apartment and Piazza Ferretto, ending up, typically, at the Lupo Nero (that is WOLF, wolf, not rabbit!). The restaurant, as always, was fabulous and although we went thru a few wines earlier in the night it provided the best tasting, a sumptious Primitivo by small name producer "Peruini" and at €11 in a restaurant, I was suitably impressed. I was also incredibly drunk so my score of 88 points carries a beer goggle value!

So, Tina and I started with an abysmal Barbera d'Alba from Castello di Verduno from a very limited choice in the local enoteca "Vite Rosse". The bar had probably 100 different wines on display, but only 6 were available to order by the glass. We found this at every bar we visited and have now exhausted Mestre's limited appeal and will hike into Venice real for our next tasting. After the Barbera, which really I can't get over how bad it was, we changed bars and changed regions, trying the Ruffino basic Il Ducale. Clearly a blended wine, it wasn't without some charms, but still, gotta give it a "meh".

The QPR wine of the night was by a producer I'd never tried (Geretto) from Friuli but I was keen to try a Cabernet Franc and the nose was Christina Aguilera Diiiiirty, vegetal, cabbage mulch, viney, herby, grass cutting diiiiirty. The flavour profile was great, smooth, not acidic, really drinkable and that nose, I was sold and the price? €1.60 a glass! I can't find it for sale anywhere on the net, but if you can, it's cheap and it's good.

So, from these scribbles on the back of an e-train ticket lets get to the reviews!

Castello di Verduno Barbera d'Alba Bricco del Cuculo 2006 - PASS - €14

Nice colour, hues were lighter than expected for a 2006 Barbera. The nose, was giving me very little of anything, not the merest hint of fruit, just a very sugary winey artificial nose that did nothing for me. The mouth feel was ok, uninteresting tannins, extremely acidic, I can't think of anything positive to say, I wouldn't use it in a cooking sauce. 73 Points

Ruffino Il Ducale Toscana 2005 - PASS - €9

Dark attractive purple colour with a nice nose, cherries, spice, meaty, the wine smelt "hot". The palate was soft, but soft like it had been sat out for 3 days (it hadn't!), nice tannins, smooth and pleasant, a hot little ending and a little vegetal too and no real hold on the finish. Started well, but lost its way on the palate. 82 Points

Casa Geretto Cabernet Franc 2006 - BUY - €6

Super dark purple in the glass, inviting. The nose was crazy, this is one stinky wine, kinda smelt off, vegetal, soil, vines, even some sweaty gym socks action. This carried through to a point on the palate which was soft, super smooth and easy to drink, non acidic, pleasant and fantastic QPR. 85 Points

I can't review the Peruini Primitivo 05 which I drank along with the meal can only score it 88 points and tell you to look out for it. The Casa Geretto I can't find for sale and the other two, well, I'm not recommending anyone buy them so once again we're left without a "Where can I buy this wine".

Question of the Day

What is the most bizarre nose you've ever gotten from a wine?

Barbera Wine

Barbera Wine

It's a hardy little grape, the Barbera. When Nebbiolo has a bad year; step forward Barbera. So much of it was planted in the Piedmont over the past 20 years that someones hard work and dedication to the grape would surely pay off. It did. Barbera wine, in my mind, is one of the best value wines we currently have in Italy. Most famously and expertly portrayed in Braida's wines, the Barbera grape is lovingly tended even by some of Piedmont's top producers like Roberto Voerzio (I must mention him each day!), Giacomo Conterno, Altare, La Spinetta and Scavino.

Once derided as a "rustic" wine, (though Rustic sounds nice to me it was meant as an insult!) it was thought too harsh and lacking finesse to ever be considered a fine wine. Thats changed in the last 10 years with some Parker and Wine Spectator scores pushing 95 and the producers bringing forward Barbera's fruity character and masking it's "rustic" one.

Personally I love Barbera, I love the flavours, I love the fruit but most of all I love the price tag. Consider Briada's fantastic Bricco dell'Uccellone, a 92 point wine on my scoreboard, can be found for under €30. That's good going compared to a Barolo or Brunello from a top producer.

The skinny on Barbera Wine

The Barbera grape covers a large area of the Piedmont and is planted in an area 3 times larger than Barolo & Barbaresco combined. The most famous of wines from the Barbera grapes are Barbera d'Asti and Barbera d'Alba. Barbera wine is very fruity and plummy but doesn't have great ageing capacity YET. I say YET because Barbera is a work in progress with many in the Piedmont firmly believing in its potential.

The most celebrated producer is Braida as they produce only Barbera wines at exceptional quality levels but the acclaimed "numero uno" bottle produced in the region is mostly agreed to be Voerzio's Barbera Ris Pozzo dell'Annunziata . Today I'm going to pull out two tasting notes on Barbera and give a consumers guide on where to buy Barbera.

Braida Barbera d'Asti Bricco dell'Uccellone 2001 - BUY

Deep and intense dark purple in the glass the Barbera has a pungent nose of berries, spices and licorice. A really fruity and enjoyable palate with excellent depth of flavour and a fine knockout finish. It's got that "you know you've been tango'd" element. Big wine. 92 Points.

R.Voerzio Barbera d'Alba Riserva Vigneto Pozzo dell'Annunziata 2000 - BUY

Drinking in 2007 the Barbera seems to be at its perfect age. Dark purple in the glass with grand aromas of blackberries,plums, licorice and coffee. Big wine on the palate, textured, balanced, thick & lustrous, velvety tannins in a full bodied masterpiece. Buy but only for drinking today and only for the experience as the wine sells for $400+ in magnum. 94 Points

Where can I buy this wine?

For value I am recommending the Briada wine and you can find it at the online stores below.

Europeans - N&M Weine - €29.75

Americans - Mount Carmel - $59.99

Brits - Lay and Wheeler - £32.00

Question of the Day?

Recommend a wine to me!