| November 21, 2005 In Milan we drank a lot of Barbera. It was often a rough wine, but went very well with the pasta and meats of the region. We liked it a lot, and when we came home to the States we always look for Barbera wines to remind us of Italy. For several years we attended the Boston Wine expo in January where we tasted a variety of Barbera from California. I never liked it. It always tasted way too harsh for me and not what I remembered. Never enough fruit, too tannic, not really pleasant for me. The wine we drank tonight was excellent, a wine like I remember from Northern Italy. I made a simple pasta with tomatos and some spices. I had some left over Charles Shaw (2 Buck chuck, $3.99 at Trader Joes in Massachusetts) cabernet which I added to the sauce. Because of my previous experience with California Barbera I was cynical, but what the heck, I open the bottle and served it with dinner. The color was very nice, a brillant garnet color. This wine has 12.2% alcohol, which is nice and not overpowering. When we swirled and sniffed I got a powerful aroma of cherries. I wrote earlier about how difficult it is for me to write about taste and smell, well, this wine was easy. Big cherry smell. With the first sip I tasted cherries again, then raspberries. It was wonderful! It had a nice balance, with flavors that lingered and mellowed over time. It has tannins, which is true to the type, but they weren't overpowering. It made my mouth water and want another bite of pasta. I discovered a new wine scoring sheet, and Dory and I both tried it out on this wine. I gave it a 16/20, and she gave it a 14.5/20. I guess I'm a softy when it comes to a wine I like. The Mandolina web site offers this wine via the net at $18 a bottle, which seemed to be a reasonable price. Try a bottle for a new take on an old Northern Italian standard.
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