2007 Prunotto Barbera d’Asti Fiulot
Back on the wine train.
Not long ago, I had my first-ever Barbera, and I quite liked it. But it wasn’t from Italy, it was from my local and beloved Livermore Valley. While I liked it very much, I wanted to try more Barbera, and more Italian wine actually from Italy.
Enter my good friend Gwyneth Hogarth over at what is easily the East Bay’s best source of Italian wines, Prima Ristorante (the attached Prima Vini wine shop is ridiculous). During a marathon session of Italian wine tasting, she offered up this 2007 Prunotto.
The wine is a rich ruby in the glass, a really great red shade. On the nose is this overarching “raspberry bush” sense. Ripe red raspberries mingle with a slight wood note and some greenery. But there’s something else there too, a note of fennel that kind of spices the whole thing up.
The Prunotto is a medium-bodied wine with good, balanced acid and tannins. Not a ton of the fruit passes through the nose onto the palate, but there is a more clear sense of the wood. Unlike the oak most of us are more than familiar with in wine, this is a lighter wood, a cedar note. And the fennel is still there, and even more wonderful.
All in all, this is a pretty excellent wine in my opinion. It offers up some things that I just haven’t found in California-made Italian varietal wines. And at around $15 per bottle, it’s well worth it.
Verdict: B+
2007 Prunotta Barbera d'Asti Fiulot
The “Prima Red” Lives Up To Its Name
Yeah, I’m back, raving about yet another wine from the Livermore Valley. Bored yet? Or, are you getting excited about trying some wines you haven’t had from a wine region that maybe you’d never even heard of before I started writing about it?
Oh my, the hubris.
At any rate, this is another winner from Tamas Estates, the Italian variety-focused arm of the Wente Vineyard empire. It’s a blend of 63% Barbera, 25% Merlot, and 12% Syrah. I almost thought, “oh, like a Super Tuscan!” and then I remembered that Barbera’s ancestral home is the Piedmont, not Tuscany. So… a “Super Piedmontan”? Perhaps.
The wine is a dark red in the glass, then lightens slightly, but not much, at the edges. On the nose is a dark chocolate note that actually hides just a bit of red cherry. The chocolate note is obviously the influence of oak mixed with some really great bitter and sweet notes that mingle around your nostrils and cheerily greet each other as they pass. Maybe they even high-five. I can’t be sure.
Good news for this party, it follows through on the palate. Chocolate, spice (like an allspice or ginger or something equally wonderfully bitter) and the cherry turns sour. Which is awesome, of course. The wine is refreshingly light in the mouth and is tannic enough that it might need another year or two. Make no mistake, this is a party wine—something to celebrate with—but it also has enough structure that just thinking about pairing it with a pork tenderloin or Cuban sandwich is getting my mouth watering.
Verdict: A-
Harmony in Port
Sometimes we arrive at the best stuff in the world when we mix’n'match, so to speak.
I’m a combination of ancestors from Portugal, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, England, and maybe even a couple other countries. I’m also completely Californian and American, having been born here, and, frankly, by choosing to embrace these places.
This port-style wine from Livermore Valley’s Tamas Estates is a similar thing. Mixed and matched, with influences both from the heredity of its grapes, and from the location of its birth.
First, some vitals: The wine is mostly barbera (92%, to be exact), but also, and significantly, what isn’t made up of this Italian stalwart is touriga nacional, perhaps Portugal’s finest vitis vinifera. It is 19% ABV, so while not quite as alcoholic as Steven Kent’s Cab Sauv Port, it doesn’t skimp in this regard.
The wine also feels entirely Californian. Some may say this is to the juice’s detriment; however I doubt those people read this blog.
On the nose is an enticing mix of chocolate, cinnamon, and mint. The alcohol scent is sweet and not off-putting. The cinnamon and mint are mellow, while the chocolate note is brash and bold. The port is clean and biting in the mouth, smooth and sweet, and the overriding flavors are mint and spices. The alcohol comes through (how could it not) but is not overwhelming to the other notes and doesn’t kill the whole experience.
A wine to be enjoyed in very small doses. But a wine to be enjoyed, for certain.
Verdict: B+