2022 Barbera

Our Barbera comes from vines we planted in 1998 and 2018. We have two clones of Barbera planted, 171 and 84. 171 tends to render bright, fuit and spice, while 84 is more intense with both fruit and structure. We routinely thin 40 to 50% of the crop during the growing season to make a more concentrated and structured Barbera. The wine was aged in 30% new French oak. The oak also lends some tannin structure and texture, which is important for balancing out Barbera's high natural acidity.

Mick's thoughts:

Both Jason and I describe Barbera like a supremely talented artist or teammate. It is not always easy to work with, but when it is on, Barbera can be one of our most compelling and popular wines. The 2022 vintage is one that makes it worth the trouble.

Barbera can be a challenging wine to make because of its inconsistent leaf canopy and it seems more sensitive to virus. The grapes are thin skinned grapes with extremely high acidity. If you don’t get Barbera fully ripe it can have some vegetal flavors that when combined with acidity take away from its enticing exotic fruit.

We have had to replant most of our Barbera due to its susceptibility to Red Blotch, a virus that impedes ripening. In 2022 more of our re-planted vines are in production, and they already performing well. That combined with the physiological ripeness from the ’22 growing season rendered our most successful, Jason's favororite Barbera since 2015.

Considering Jason’s frosty relationship with Barbera, he has really dialed in his winemaking approach. The ’22 is dark, fruity, complex, and great structure, considering Barbera has very low tannins. Jason aged our Barbera in 30% new French Oak, but you would never guess. The oak is well integrated while providing some tannin structure. 

So, I guess we won’t kick Barbera out of the band just yet.

850 cases produced