WTN: Barbera Night

[Jenise]

Our neighborhood wine tasting last night was all about barbera--the Piedmontese kind and we threw in one Washington ringer. The wines were across the board excellent and, though the prices ranged from a low of about $13 to a high of $42, there were no detectable qualitative differences. It was impossible to peg the cheapest or, here's a shock, the non-Italian. In fact, I voted the Washingtonian as my first place wine, comfortably sure I was voting for the Giacomo Conterno and so did the distributor (whom I'd invited) who sold me the wines.

2009 Ruggeri Corsini: one of the darker, richer wines on the table with a vitamin-rich mineral nose. The youngest wine of the night, but there was no baby fat to reveal its identity. $13. Group #3, my number 3.

2006 Aldo Conterno Conca Tre Pile: Pretty nose, good florals, otherwise to me it no distinguishing characteristics and was very similar to wine C (below). $34, Group 4th place.

2006 Cantina del Pino: See above. $24. Group 6th place.

2006 Renato Ratti Torriglione: I had the wines open on my kitchen counter all day. This wine was the richest of them all in that setting, with a "penetrating sweetness", as Steve Tanzer called it, and an espresso streak in the "sappy, powerful" finish. I was convinced that in the actual tasting I'd be able to identify it of all the wines, but in fact not only wasn't I, but this turned out to be the last of the six wines I'd have guessed it to be. Confidence-shaking. $20. Group 1st.

2008 Giocomo Conterno "Francia": This wine had complex layers of spice, licorice, leather and other wonderful things. It was my favorite from the getgo, but wine A (below) kept building on me and in the end I relegated this to second place but a minute before and three minutes later I probably would have made this my first place wine. $42. Group 5th, my 2nd place.

NV Cavatappi (a blend of 05, 06 and 07) Boushey Vineyard, WashingtonA silly little half acre of barbera is grown on the Boushey estate, and Peter Cavatappi got his hands on it three years in a row. This is the result. Aged in neutral oak, it was all about cherry pie, cinnamon and earth. Good depth, pretty aromatics. $13. Group 2nd, my 1st.

So I voted for A, B and E, and my husband voted for C, D and F. Can this marriage be saved?

Also want to give props to two really delicious white wines that we put out for self-pour. The 2008 Paolo Scavino Langhe Bianco had low key citrus fruit, pretty white flowers and a fresh quality that both mystified and intrigued. Turns out that this wine is 70% stainless steel fermented sauv blanc blended with 30% oak-barrel fermented chardonnay. No wonder I loved it. The 2008 Cascina Chicco Kicu Arneis was also quite good, but heftier and oilier that, to my tastes, weighed it down unneccessarily.

When I think Barbera, Washington is the region that first comes to my mind!! Well. ... now anyway.. Interesting tasting and even more interesting results.

Jenise, your neighborhood blind tasting reminds me of a tasting my wine club had two years ago. In April 2009 our group tasted six Nebbiolos, five of from Langhe and one from Washington, single blind. The clear winner, with four first place votes, two seconds, and one third, was the Washington wine: a 2003 Cavatappi Nebbiolo. I understand Peter Dow got a big kick out of this when Michael Teer of Pike & Western told him about it, so you might make Peter's day by telling him about your tasting.

Why did Cavatappi's two unusual (for WA) varietals blow away the blind tasting competition at your tasting and mine? No doubt about it, Peter is making fine wine, and I loved the 2003 Cavatappi (I bought a half case). But I do think the unusual wine, the wine that strikes tasters as having something different, just so long as that difference is good, has an edge in blind tasting competitions. Anyhow, the ringers have a habit of coming in first at our tastings.

[Jenise]

Jenise, your neighborhood blind tasting reminds me of a tasting my wine club had two years ago. In April 2009 our group tasted six Nebbiolos, five of from Langhe and one from Washington, single blind. The clear winner, with four first place votes, two seconds, and one third, was the Washington wine: a 2003 Cavatappi Nebbiolo. I understand Peter Dow got a big kick out of this when Michael Teer of Pike & Western told him about it, so you might make Peter's day by telling him about your tasting.

Why did Cavatappi's two unusual (for WA) varietals blow away the blind tasting competition at your tasting and mine? No doubt about it, Peter is making fine wine, and I loved the 2003 Cavatappi (I bought a half case). But I do think the unusual wine, the wine that strikes tasters as having something different, just so long as that difference is good, has an edge in blind tasting competitions. Anyhow, the ringers have a habit of coming in first at our tastings.

Clint, Peter will probably here about it direct from my friend Gabe--the distributor he works for? Cavatappi. (For those who don't know, Peter Dow is both a wine producer and a distributor, both businesses named Cavatappi. He is also the former owner of Seattle's venerable Cafe Juanita in whose basement his winemaking began. Apparently, when he reached the point where he decided he couldn't have three careers simultaneously, the Cafe is the piece he let go of.) I'm going to have to try one of his Nebbiolos.

I understand what you mean about the ringer effect. And with this group especially, though perhaps for a different reason. Even with 40 tasters voting, the familiarity with and preference for chubby, oak-laden sweet new world fruit dominates and a new world ringer amongst a group of old world wines has in the past tended to guarantee top spot in the winner's circle. That it didn't this time is a surprise, however the wine that WAS first place with them was the one Gabe and I both thought most likely to be the Cavatappi. The only thing that ever surprises me with this group is when they and I agree--typically, their last place wines are my favorites.