E-Specials: The Barbera Box
For your current consumption, three different (with apologies to Vietti for leaving them out of the photo!) and delicious Barberas to salivate over. I keep coming to the conclusion that Barbera may well be the greatest food wine in the world. Any of the following will add to fuel to that fire!
2007 COPPO “L’Avvocata" Barbera d'Asti
$15.95 bottle....$158.00 case
The 2007 vintage for Barbera was pretty much perfect. In the hands of Massimiliano Coppo the ’07 l’Avvocata Barbera was everything it should be, brimming with cherry, spice, smoke, and earth edged fruit. It has great texture and balance and is drinking perfectly right now. Fabulous with food, this is a wine in search of a perfect plate of pasta! Here's the adjectives from The Wine Advocate: "The 2007 Barbera d’Asti L’Avvocata is just plain delicious. This cask-aged Barbera impresses for the clarity and fragrance of its ripe fruit as well as for its impeccable balance. It is a gem, especially at this price!"
2009 MONTARIBALDI "Consolina" Barbera d'Asti
$13.95 bottle...$138.00 case
In one of his last great acts as wine columnist if our local bird cage liner The Oregonian, Matt Kramer raved about the '09 Montaribaldi "Consolina" Barbera. Unfortunately the local importer had barely any on hand. They have just recently reloaded, and now the pipeline is blessedly full. I'll let MK give his rundown on this fabulous deal: "It's an experience many travelers have had. You go to some location -- France, Italy, even Oregon -- and you're served a wine at dinner. It's inexpensive and you exclaim, "This is wonderful stuff. Why can't we get this at home?" This is that wine -- at least if you were traveling in the Piedmont region of northwest Italy. "La Consolina" 2009 is precisely the kind of really good Barbera that you'd be served in a restaurant in the Piedmont region. Young, fresh and brimming with flavor, it slides right down with your pasta or pizza and before you know it the bottle is empty -- and you're looking for more. Worth noting is that this also is an accurate reflection of the style of Barbera that comes from the Asti zone, which is to say silky, refreshingly crisp and devoid of unneeded oak or any other winemaking flourishes that signal "importance." If this wine were human you'd say it had confidence and charm!"
2008 VIETTI "Tre Vigne" Barbera d'Asti
$18.50 bottle...$182.00 case
Always one of the top Barberas and never a bad thing to have on your dinner table, Vietti in 2008 does not disappoint. Usually I prefer their "Alba" bottling over the "Asti" version, but in '08 I found the "Tre Vigne" from Asti to be much more interesting. Absolutely pops with bright cherries, spice, floral, and earthy aromas and flavors. It's moderate, well-integrated tannins and perfect acid balance let you know that this is gonna be great with dinner. It received 89 points from both The Wine Advocate and The Wine Spectator, which not only gives it much deserved praise, but also consensus on its quality!
THE BARBERA BOX: Buy a mixed case of four bottles each of the above three dinner-perfect wines for just $160.00!!