A few folks gathered at Café Mangal in Wellesley several weeks back to enjoy a nice dinner with a line-up of 2007 Barberas, along with a bunch of extras supplied by the assembled gang.
Starters:
1998 Weingut Willi Brundlmayer Gruner Veltliner Lamm. The color of this wine is a darkish yellow-gold in tone. It smells rather ripe, with an almost late-harvest type of profile consisting of honey, litchi, stone fruits and butterscotch aromas—but also a fine cooling streak of intense gravel stoniness. It is a very interesting balancing act it manages to pull off. In the mouth, it tastes of sweet butterscotch, nectarine and litchi fruit, but a very crisp acidity and a solid dose of flinty minerality makes it bone dry. Despite being rounded and creamy-textured, it is a wine that really makes the mouth water around the edges of the tongue with that acidic cut. For all that, the finish feels rather balanced and even and the whole package demonstrates great length in the mouth. This is a very interesting wine, for sure.
2004 Emmanuel Houillon Poulsard Arbois Pupillin Maison Pierre Overnoy. The appearance of this wine is rather cloudy and unfiltered. Oh man, is it ever throwing off some funky schtank on the nose! Aromas of sweaty ass, dirty rawhide, cranberries and tea leaves make for a bumpy road initially, even for the hard-core geeks among us. But with some time and air, things start to settle down and integrate nicely—with the profile turning more to aged aromas of steeped mushrooms, wilted red flower petals, softly-tanned leather, persimmon, red berries and some exotic spices that I end up liking quite a bit. In the mouth, it is fairly mouth-filling and delivers a surprising amount of depth of flavor for a wine of such light and airy framing. It tastes quite sweaty and funky, but with a core of tangy berry-driven juiciness that makes the mouth really water. It feels wholly natural and unique, and the longer you stay with it, the more holistic, effortless and true a wine it seems to be. It is a wine that really grows on you and one I end up liking a good deal.
Main Event:
2007 Pertinace Barbera d’Alba. For the most part, we started with lower-cost bottlings and worked our way up to more expensive offerings. We were told that the first three wines all go for about $15. This first wine is not at all one of my favorites when it comes to the aromatics. I find strong aromas of tire tread really dominant at first, though with some very aggressive swirling the wine starts to also fold in some vanilla, chocolate powder, oak, blackberry and wood spices that feel rather modern (but at least less rubbery). In the mouth, it is generous and giving, with a good deal of rich flavoring and really polished texture already. It shows a mild hint of alcohol I find distracting through the mid-palate, but I have to say it comes together on the finish pretty well—where the solid acidity and medium bodied framing give it a touch more elegance to go with that big burst of red and black berry fruit that otherwise dominates up front. Overall, though, this wine for my taste is not up to the quality of several of those that came later on.
2007 Damilano Barbera d’Alba. This wine also doesn’t do a whole lot for me on the nose—though here it is because it just seems a bit muddled and blocky—with no real distinction, finesse or nuance. It manages to deliver some perfectly fine pleasure to the palate, though, which surprised me a bit given my rocky track record of not really liking anything I’ve had from the estate before. It tastes warm and fairly lusciously-fruited, with a draped character across the palate. Running beneath that, though, are some very bright acidity, tingly spices and tannin to give some structure to the fleshy texture and the warm flavors of cherry liqueur, cranberry sauce and chocolate paste riding above. It is nothing special, but a little better than I expected.
2007 Beni di Batasiolo Barbera d’Alba. This wine offers up perhaps a more traditional bouquet featuring scents of black leather, dark earth, blackberry, smoke and menthol to go with some meaty and somewhat corpulent notes. In the mouth, it is showing quite well, with a silky-smooth texture, some initial signs of interesting layering and a good grip to it. It is medium to full-bodied and delivers flavors of blackberry, charcoal and smoked herbs that are rounded and giving. It turns a bit sweeter-edged on the rich and fanned out finish. This is a solid drink, with everything in its place to deliver a full, rich-flavored but well-delineated Barbera experience.
2007 Vietti Barbera d’Alba Tre Vigne. In contrast, the bouquet here is more notably modern—with forward aromas of vanilla paste, cocoa powder, downy earth, gentle leather and soft strawberry and raspberry fruit in fine abundance. In the mouth, it is open and very giving, with tons of black fruit delivering gobs of flavor, accented by notes of chocolate ganache and vanilla dusting. It is fairly dense and on the full-bodied side, but is very smooth and fleshy on the tongue, with a low acid feel leading to a lush and expansive finish.
2007 Paitin Barbera d’Alba Serra. There is an earthy nose to this one, with aromas of dry dirt, herbs and tobacco leaf riding atop the creamed raspberry and cherry fruit. On the palate, it is medium-bodied and despite a nice creamy texture is showing much more obvious tannin than any of the other wines on the table. The flavors of black currants, dark cranberry, spices and smoke are well-knit through the mid-palate, but the finish is a bit of a free-for-all at this stage, with tangy acidity and some alcoholic warmth combining with the furry tannins to make for an unfocused ending. I would say of all the wines tasted, this is the most backward and needing of time in the cellar to come together.
2007 Brovia Barbera d’Alba Brea. I really like the dark, earthy profile of the nose despite the fact that it is still fairly tightly-coiled around the notes of tar, black lava, charred earth and sumptuous and juicy black cherry fruit. In the mouth, it comes across as a serious wine with outstanding balance to go with its impressive sense of presence. It offers the taster lots of rich black fruit, a sweet core of dark cherry liqueur and rich cocoa dust but also a wonderfully freshening shock of tangy acidity that makes the mouth absolutely water. It has richness, but also cut and class and is just a step above anything else tasted from this vintage. The fruit is chewy and ripe and the finish has a pasty quality to it, but all the while there is the intense acidic freshness and tang to make it all work. I do think a short bit of cellar aging would do it some good, but I really like it right now, too. I would definitely recommend this.
2007 Vietti Barbera d’Alba Vigna Vecchia Scarrone. The bouquet of this wine had me thinking of Bordeaux or Chinon, with its Old World notes of tobacco barn, fuzzy leather strop, horse hide, persimmon and tomato leaf. In the mouth, it is super-smooth and polished, opening with an intense jab of its chocolate-covered cherry core, but then folding in lots of forest greens and volcanic earth notes. Although it can feel rich at times, it stays true to that Old World profile the longer you stay with it. I like that combination and could see cellaring this wine successfully and enjoying for a good while.
2003 Lorenzo Corino Barbera d’Asti Case Corini La Barla. At the end, Bob threw in this older wine for us to try. First off, it is the most expensive wine at the table, and also there is no way in hell I would guess Barbera if I were served this wine double blind. Now, if some people want to dismiss it because it doesn’t match one’s expectations of typicity (and part of me is influenced by this, too), they are free to do that. But they would miss out on a rather singular wine drinking experience. This is a wine I could just sit and smell for hours. It is crazy rich and sweet with fruit, but also wonderfully sexy and funky in its earthen tones, too. It is almost like some theoretical combination of a Paolo Bea Sagrantino and a slutty Tuscan Merlot in the way it combines the high-toned and high-octane sweetness of kirsch and cherry liqueur aromas with the funky earth tones of mint leaf, wintergreen, eucalyptus and forest floor. It shows a lot of different facets and shifts and morphs seemingly with each sniff. In the mouth, it is a tramp of a wine—with a core of beautiful, limpid fruit that just drapes over the palate in waves of chocolate-covered red and black fruit. It coats the teeth in has impressive staying power. It is luxuriant in a regal sort of way and has enough acidic edging all around to keep one coming back for more. It is impressive and engaging, for sure, but I could also see it turning some people off. For me, though, it is crazy good and enjoyable if I can just get past the fact that it is a Barbera!
Sweet wines:
1997 Chateau Soucherie Coteaux du Layon Vielles Vignes. Here we have a lighter-styled, shy but focused nose of light honey, beeswax, lemon peel, light brown sugar and poached peaches. It is refined in the mouth, with a light and wispy character featuring flavors of lemon candy, meringue, poached pears, light honey, tea leaves and rock sugar. It keeps the sweetness levels in check and has a smooth and classy character. Yes, it could maybe benefit from a bit more volume or presence, but I imagine it would be a nice, under-stated wine with lighter-styled desserts.
2005 Paul Cluver Riesling Weisser Noble Late Harvest Elgin South Africa. In contrast, this wine features very rich, ripe and effusive aromas of lime juice, caramel, kiwi, browned butter, toasted honey, baked apricot, toasty wood, brown spices and a bit of sweet funk. While thick and a bit heavy-handed, I find myself liking it and certainly enjoying it more than the 2004 version tried last June. It is an extremely sweet wine on the palate, almost too sweet. It offers up loads of baked apricot, peach juice, marmalade, lime-infused crème brulee and toasted spice flavors that would surely be cloying if not for the bright lemon-lime citrus acidity that plays a big part in the finish of the wine. It manages to walk that fine line, but even so I have to admit that it becomes a bit of an effort to get through more than a few sips.
2001 Castello della Paneretta Vin Santo del Chianti Classico. This wine is a pure blast of toasted walnuts, bitter almonds and fino sherry on the nose, which also shows a prickle of alcohol. It is much more appealing to me in the taste department, where it shows off flavors of nougat and walnut to go with amaretto, caramel and yellow fruit. It is a bit direct but smooth and decently balanced, with a lasting finish.
-Michael