An American in Barbera

In today’s world of fine wine connoisseurship, “single-vineyard designations” are all the rage.

With the arrival of the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S., the nation officially kicks off its 2019 holiday season.

The year that changed everything in Barbera d’Asti

Before temperature-controlled tanks, the winemakers occasionally would find it challenging to “provoke” malolactic fermentation because it was so cold in the winery.

Fresh, with vibrant fruit, slightly underripe, and electric acidity. What is it? A Barbera d’Asti, of course.

Accessibility in its youth, contributes complexity at the table, easy drinking by itself, killer pricing. If you look at those four things to judge all grapes by, very few tick all four boxes.

Barbera d’Asti has now become part of the zeitgeist and the fabric of food and wine appreciation in the U.S.

Somewhere in that equilibrium lies the “unbearable lightness,” or should we say, “the un-Barbera-able lightness.”

If I had a quarter for every time I heard an American wine professional, Italian-focused and otherwise, say that “Barbera is a great pizza wine,” I’d be a very rich blogger.

The title “Summer Endless” came to mind this week when I read the following line from a write-up and round-up of a wine writer’s favorite “summer wines.”