Back when I was first compiling the list, I created several
sub-lists of wines to test. One that frequently came up on a few of the “under
$20” or sometimes budget wine lists where I was drawing several names was this.
Concurrent with my then-tour of the world via bottles of wine, it did, however,
take me a bit to get to as it was closer to the $20 mark and my process at the
time was to buy at the lower end of the scale first and then get one of the
more expensive ones. Now, I had no intention or even passing thought of ever
doing a column like this, so I’d occasionally run into the $40 range for
something really special, but the higher ones were more one at a time rather
than getting a cluster, as I did will the lesser expensive ones.
What I found here was another lively wine from what was fast
becoming my overall favorite wine-producing country, Italy, though this was
more to the northern part of the country, all the way opposite of my favored
region, that being the southern part…at least for reds, that is. Wines from the
north tend to be more bitey and that is the case here, though this is a very
drinkable red. This tends to be a fairly intense red and a bit deceptive, since
it initially feels very light in the mouth.
Airing this one out tends to get a bit pointless as there is
not a great difference between 15 minutes and longer. I haven’t tried it
directly out of the gate, but I get the impression it probably would be one of
those that one could conceivably pull the cork and go. The taste here tends to
have elements of berry, but nothing particularly strong and overwhelming.
Barbera, as grapes goes, seems to be a milder one and all in all, this can be a
quite refreshing wine.
It is, as noted, one of the more expensive entries,
comparatively, on this list and usually runs around $18/bottle. It’s another
that never seems to come up on SPA and hence, another that comes in at Mixed.
No comments:
Post a Comment