: THE BLOG
Sonoma County has been growing Barbera since the 1880s
Most prominently throughout Italy’s Piedmont wine region—sprinkled elsewhere also—you will find the red grape variety called Barbera. We’ve all heard its name or at least mistaken it for the more accomplished Barolo and/or Barbaresco—these Italian ‘B’ grapes will mix you up! They are all distinctively different and let me say there’s nothing like Barbera’s steep acidic nature and low-key tannins. It is the third major Italian varietal grown in Italy and, is just recently (well, within the last 20 years or so) becoming a wine to reckon with.
Here are 5 things to know about Barbera wine:
- No aging required! In barrel-aged examples and in well-grown unoaked Barberas, both are typically best within the first 3-6 years. That’s right, no need to pack this wine away in your wine cellar, you should enjoy at your leisure which leads me to the next thing to know.
- Food pairing is a MUST DO! Barbera is incredibly complementary to rich, dark, fatty meats, mushrooms, blue cheeses and hard cheeses, roasted root vegetables & braised greens. The “buzz-saw acidity” will cut through any rich and fatty or high tannin cuisine du jour.
- Plan a wine excursion to Nizza Monferrato, one of the six areas of Piedmont in Northern Italy. This place is identified as the capital of Barbera and the town is a beautiful example of a medieval “Villanova” (from Latin “villa nova” meaning “new settlement”).
- Barbera has old school vibes accredited to ancient origins. An Italian Count in the 17th century first cited Barbera wines as a favorite with army officers thus beginning the ongoing catch phrase for Barbera, “the people’s wine” or as the Count documented a “sincere companion.”
- Sonoma County has been growing Barbera since the 1880s, and in the early 20th century the University of California said Barbera will do well in the states’ central valleys. Now this grape is being planted in the foothills, with more than 200 acres in Amador County and more than 100 in El Dorado County.
Paul Bush, Founder and Winemaker of Rucksack Cellars in the Sierra Foothills gave us a bit more insight on this lovely red that is fast gaining popularity in the U.S.
Maggie and Paul Bush, Madrona & Rucksack Wineries
“Barbera is probably one of the most acidic red varieties out there. It does very well in the foothills because we have the good sunshine but our temperatures are not super, super high. The California-style is kind of the idea to make a Barbera that is super ripe. Because as it gets riper, riper and riper, the acid drops lower and lower. The problem with that is, your ripe styles of wine tend to have very focused, sometimes one-dimensional characteristics. If you pick Barbera at maturity, somewhere between 22.5 and 24.5 Brix, you can get a whole ‘nother set of characters, but you have to also understand that it is going to have a fair amount of acidity. So with Barbera, we often do two picks.
We do a pick that is on the earlier side, where we really get this high-toned fruit, we get cranberry and raspberry, strawberry, high cherry characteristics, but it also has a little bit more acid. Then we’ll do a slightly later pick, and back blend the later pick with the earlier pick. The reason for doing it this way, rather than just make a super ripe wine, is that we want to embrace that Barbera is truly unique and has this wonderful acidity base to it. The bonus of Barbera is that it doesn’t have lots of tannins, so you don’t have an issue with the high acidity exacerbating the tannins.
At a traditional Italian dinner, the first course is going to be pasta, potatoes or rice. There is going to be starch. And for starchy things, you want to have a higher acid wine, because you want the acid to cut through the starchiness. I wouldn’t pick a high pH wine to go with paella or risotto or even pasta. You want something with a little more ripeness to it. That is why you put tomato sauce on pasta, because it has acidity and goes with the starchiness of the pasta. So that’s what our Barbera is made for. It’s made to showcase all these interesting characteristics that you can get out of Barbera, and also have a wine that is made for certain types of food that we all eat, pasta rice and potatoes.”
Get to know Barbera by checking out the Barbera Festival every September in Plymouth California. Discover more than 80 California wineries and their Barbera renditions!
Check out the Barbera Festival every September in Plymouth, CA. Photo courtesy of Barbera Festival.
Can’t wait? Browse our Wine Reorder section for our most recent Barbera selections. Every bottle is hand-selected, handcrafted and backed by our Love It Guarantee.
Who can I buy the Barbera grape from to make wine. Delivered to Pueblo Co. 81006
Hi Mike, We are sorry, but we do not make wine nor sell grapes. We are a wine of the month club that features handcrafted wines from small, family wineries. Best wishes for your winemaking endeavors.