Tannins were pretty rounded by now, the red fruit was still there, sort of sour cherry. Not a bad wine for it’s price/quality ratio.
WINE DETAILS:
Grape: Barbera
Alcohol: 13%
Wine: Canti
Vintage: 2011
Winery: Canti Estate
DOCG: Barbera d’Asti
Location: Piedmont, Italy
Date: 9/17/21
Distributor: Serralles Imports
Curious Synonyms: Barberone, Cosses Barbusen, Gaietto, Lombardesca, Perricone, Pignatello and Ughetta.
Nerd Alert: Produces fresh, light-bodied red wines with low tannins. When allowed to age in bottle for a few years, its flavors turn to a denser, sour-cherry note. At the turn of the 21st Century, it was Italy’s third most-commonly planted red wine grape but it has now dropped. Recent scientific studies have established one of its parents as Coccalona Nera.
Personal Note: It’s the craziest thing. I’m going to the wine shop, walking through the aisles, knowing that most wines there, although good and interesting, don’t fit my list. They will fit great for my future writing ideas, but not for the regular road. So I’m walking, turn around the corner towards italian wines, look at the Brunellos, Moscatos, Pinot Grigios, Montepulcianos and Barberas. And then I stop and I’m like “Wait a darn minute. I haven’t done Barbera.” How in the hell did I forget that grape? So I went online, double checked that I didn’t do a synonym and nope. I was in the clear.
I looked at the year, 2011. What? I thought. In a shelf with 10 years on it? And even though I’m not a pro at vintages memorization, I know this year was good in Piemonte so I was quite excited. At the same time, my pragmatic mind goes, why would it still be on the shelf? So I grabbed it, took it home and opened it. I didn’t read any reviews until after I finished it. First of all, I enjoyed it. I think aging wine is fun and necessary and gives an interesting profile to a wine (and grape). Tannins were pretty rounded by now, the red fruit was still there, sort of sour cherry. Not a bad wine for it’s price/quality ratio. Then I read the reviews. Wow. They trashed it. So there’s a lesson there: If you are curious, drink first, read later. If you like it…then more for you.
Thoughts?
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*Sources for the wine facts are from: Wine Searcher, Wikipedia, Vivino, wine.com, and the wineries websites.
