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!!
Now stepping up to the plate are the heavy hitters. 100% nebbiolo grapes from three different vintages, made by three of the Piedmont's best producers. I've had all of the following wines on numerous occasions. I can guarantee that they are absolutely...as goes the current idiom...all that!
2003 BREZZA "Sarmassa" Barolo
$36.95 bottle....$188.00 1/2 case...$355.00 case
One of the very few silver linings to the current economic slowdown is the fact that there are oceans of unsold back vintages of truly spectacular wines. They've got to be sold, so we're seeing our distributors slash pricing to move them. The good news for you is they have done some of the cellaring for you. This amazing single-vineyard '03 Brezza is a prime example. On release this was $65 a bottle. Now it's almost half that. And man is it drinking well. I had a bottle last week and was frankly blown away by its richness. 2003 was a very hot vintage, and the normally reserved Barolos were made from much riper grapes than usual. That is to the advantage of someone like the Brezza family, who are very much of the old school. They use very large old barrels, eschew a new oak regimen which is the worst thing to throw on top of hot vintage fruit. Te result is stunning. I've never had a Barolo I would call lush until now. It just kept getting better and better as it sat in the glass. I'm just thrilled at the prospect of my next bottle (and yes, mine are already tucked away in my basement). Here's some added love from The Wine Advocate, who nailed this wine: "Readers should run not walk to check out the 2003 Barolo Sarmassa. This is an immensely rewarding, generous Barolo loaded with tons of sweet dark fruit that blossoms onto the palate with terrific expansiveness and remarkably well-integrated tannins. The wine beautifully reconciles the warmth of the vintage with a traditional approach to winemaking. This truly delicious Barolo is sure to provide great drinking over the next few years, if not longer. 91 points!"
On a side note, this past weekend I had a bottle out of my cellar of 1997 Brezza "Sarmassa", also from a very hot, ripe vintage. It was incredible!
2005 PAITIN "Sori Paitin" Barbaresco
$35.95 bottle...$184.00 1/2 case...$345.00 case
Another traditionalist is Giovanni Paitin. His Barbarescos are benchmarks of the region. Impeccably made, structured tightly would and slow to develop, but when they do watch out. The pleasure meter simply goes off the charts. 2005 was another wondrous vintage, and at his small winery in the hills above Alba Giovanni once again did what he does, which is to make a perfectly ripe, balanced, and incredibly character-filled Barbaresco. Rated at a staggering 93 points by both The Wine Advocate and The Wine Spectator, and deserving of each and every point.
From The Wine Advocate: "...it is a gem. The 2005 Sori Paitin is a gorgeous wine redolent of flowers, ripe red fruit and subtle French oak nuances. This Barbaresco offers lovely overall balance and superb purity. Today the wine is bursting with primary fruit and needs at least a few years in bottle to develop its tertiary aromas and flavors. This is a terrific effort from Paitin!"
Now The Wine Spectator: "Dense and concentrated, with lots of berries and cherry, with a cut wood note. Full-bodied, with chewy tannins and a mouthpuckering finish. Needs lots of time in the bottle to come around, but should be really outstanding in the end."
2006 MONCHIERO Barolo
$30.95 bottle...$158.00 1/2 case...$297.00 case
You may remember this wine from fall of last year. It was another Matt Kramer rave that we sold several cases of, only to see it vaporize far too quickly leaving a lot of you...and VINO...without. I was shocked in all the right ways when my rep at the importer told me they were getting another slug of it. This is just ridiculously good for the money and represents what I would call a prime example of the smart side if world class winemaking. Instead of charging an exorbitant price when you release your wine, why not charge a reasonable price right from the start so leftover inventory isn't a problem? Wait a minute...that makes too much sense. There must be something wrong with that theory. Or not! Here's the Kramer rave that was absolutely spot on: "Speaking of old school, the real Barolo, that 100 percent nebbiolo wine from the small Barolo district in the Piedmont region of northwest Italy, should be a wine of formidable character as well an intense, utterly memorable perfume. Only a great pinot noir can rival a Barolo for a scent of berries and rose petals. Such classic Barolos -- wines full of nebbiolo's distinctive flavors without the sweetish, come-hither veneer of new oak -- are not only rare, they're famously expensive as well, typically asking (and getting) $75 to $150 a bottle. That's what makes the 2006 Barolo from the small family producer Monchiero such a deal. At $30.95 a bottle, a Barolo this fragrant and classic is dirt cheap. If you've ever wondered what a really fine Barolo tastes like -- but didn't want to fork over a fortune to find out -- this is your ticket. Get it while you can!"
THE B/B CASE: buy a mixed case of four bottles each of all three wines above and receive the same full case discounts. That would be twelve bottles of nebbiolo nirvana for just $332.00!!
