TorreBarolo Blog

Our friend Nancy Yos, of blog At First Glass, kindly shared with us her thoughts on a 2006 Vobis Tua Barbera d’Asti from Cantine Volpi. Nancy has been blogging for three years and her posts cover a wide range of wines and regions. 

2006 Vobis Tua Barbera d’Asti

Producer: Cantine Volpi s.r.l., Tortona, Italy.

Light bodied, briny piquancy — tart, underripe raspberries – a little tarry or smoky — needs food

2nd day: mellowed and silkier

Barbera d’Asti is both a grape and a DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) but note that smaller case b-barbera is the grape, while capital B-Barbera d’Asti refers to the DOC, in the lovely Piedmont region of northwest Italy, spelled in Italian Piemonte. If Italy generally conjures up images of sunshine, rolling hills, Rome, Renaissance art, and pasta, for Piedmont in particular we ought to think instead of mountains (the Alps), rushing rivers (the Po), drifting fogs, of industrial Turin, and oddly enough of rice and corn cultivation. Both are major crops here (think risotto and polenta). 

For its part, our glass of Barbera d’Asti represents a sort of little brother in a hierarchy of Piedmont’s red wines, ranking below the great Barbaresco and the still greater Barolo, both named for their places of origin within Piedmont but vinified from the nebbiolo grape — which in turn is named, it seems, for the drifting fogs (nebbia). Barbera can be either Barbera d’Asti, as we have here, or Barbera d’Alba; the latter is considered just slightly more of a heavyweight than the former, which seems to be why Barbera d’Asti is an everyday what’s-for-dinner wine in this part of Italy. Barbera d’Alba is also another DOC.

Like so many Italian red wines, except its powerhouse big brothers Barbaresco and Barolo, a Barbera has that tart, light, berry-like flavor and a texture that seems a little grainy and rough, as if a few seeds of a fresh raspberry had found their way into the bottle and added their own little interesting zip there. 

Wine books always emphasize that Italian wines like this, tending to be thin, fresh, and acidic, are meant to be drunk with a meal and not treated as a free-standing cocktail, which is often how we drink syrupy, barbecued-fruit California cabernets or merlots. Karen MacNeil in The Wine Bible writes rapturously of the Piedmontese food that would go with a Barbera, or even better, with its muscular big brothers, Barbaresco and Barolo: heavy meat dishes, thick risottos, eggy fresh-made pastas dressed only with butter and sage leaves or, if you are lucky and are visiting in the fall, with shavings of white truffle from Alba. The truffle’s spectacular taste, MacNeil explains in a sidebar, has been studied in science labs, and has been found to derive from some sort of chemical that is also present in the testes of men and bulls. Experienced people hunt for them at night in secret, with specially trained white dogs. Wasn’t there a commercial jingle that used to assure us Italians have more fun?

Indeed they seem to, and another of Italy’s most fun wines, Moscato d’Asti, is also a product of this same Piedmont that gives us our very serious Barolos and our zippy Barberas. Of this, I can provide just one quick tasting note: it’s flying off the shelves in grocery stores now, outperforming even queen Chardonnay and princess Pinot Grigio. 

Vobis Tua, we are told, is Latin for “as you like it.” We like it. Retail: about $10-$12.

The schedule for Vinum 2010 was released last month. This wine event is sponsored by various entities such as the Regione Piemonte, the City of Alba and the Province of Cuneo and focuses mainly on regional wines, such as Barbera d’Alba, Dolcetto, Barolo, Barbaresco but also Moscato. This year the event will takes places over the following three weekends: April 16^th-18^th, April 23^th-25^th and April 30^th- May 2^nd and all events take place in Alba, therefore just a short car ride from TorreBarolo.

New this year is the decision not to have tastings in the streets and piazza’s of Alba, rather the event will take place in three venues located in the historic center of Alba. The organizers believe the venues will enhance the visitors experience while still having the accessibility to the stores and restaurants of Alba’s historic center.

Palavinum 1: Inside the Palazzo Mostre e Congressi  G Morra located in piazza Medford will host “Grande Enoteca di Langhe e Roero”.  In this venue you will be able to taste and purchase a wide offering of regional wines.

Palavinum 2: Located in the Cortile della Maddalena, this venue will host “Appuntamenti Golosi”. This venue is dedicated to the coupling of wine and gastronomy and there will be regional producers with various salumis, cheese and sweets.

Palavinum 3: This venue will be reserved for “Grande Vini del Piemonte” and will be overseen by the Italian Sommelier Association. One can expect the best wines in this venue and they will host a retrospective for Barolo and Barbaresco wines from 1999 and 1997 as well as a focus on Barbaresco di Neive , Il “Piemonte Perlage” and some grand crus of Roero.  This venue will also highlight young and promising piemontese winemakers.

There are 3 other events that are running concurrent with Vinum.

One is the “Festival della Cucina” which consists of Michelin starred chefs from outside the Langhe being matched with Michelin starred regional chefs to create a special dinner at a small selection of some of the Langhe’s most prestigious restaurants. (Expect to pay €80-100 per person for one of these special tasting menus).

The “Paesaggi e Architetture del Vino” is being held in the Teatro Sociale and is an event focused on the scenery and architecture of wine.  There will also be a photography show dedicated to this same topic that will take place at the San Domenico church.

Lastly, there is a “Jazz di Vino” which will host concerts by the following artists:  Stefano Bollani, Elena Ledda e Rita Marcotulli, Furio Nicastri, Dado Moroni e Marco Tamburini.

Although the Vinum site is only in Italian, there is a detailed schedule of all the events that are hosted at the 3 venues.

Having participated last year, I think the decision to centralize the events in 3 venues with very specific purposes will enhance the ease and pleasure of the event. We have already booked our next trip so we’ll be there 24^th and 25^th April, would be great to meet some of you guys for a glass of Vinum … Cin cin!

Having been touring the Langhe for over 10 years, I wonder why I have never considered a visit to Acqui Terme, as it is only an hour north of TorreBarolo, and 30 mins of it is autostrada driving. Well, last week I finally made the journey as a new friend of mine, Diana Baur, lives there with her husband Michael and together they own and operate a wonderful B&B.

Acqui Terme is an ancient Roman spa town where the mineral rich waters are captured in the towns Terme. In addition to the public Terme, there are private spas and high end hotels that also harness this naturally rich water and it is integral to their various spa treatments, the most well known being the Grand Hotel Thermes.

From Diana’s house, you can see the Alpi mountains of Liguria, so I guess it should be no surprise that this little city (population 23k) has more of a Ligurian than a Piemontese/Langhe feel. The buildings are all shades of pastels and with the palm trees and fountains one feels like they are at a seaside resort vs a  medieval hill top city.

What is most impressive about Acqui Terme is the complete renovation of the historic center. Diana and Michael explained to me that awhile back the residents of the historic town center were given two choices: interest free loans to renovate their buildings or else up and sell to the Comune.

Well, it was a clever idea because given the wide streets, grand piazzas and pedestrian walkways, it is a pleasure just strolling around the city center as each corner brings a photo opportunity. Diana summed it up well by saying it is a very precious city.

The wines in the area tend to be more Barbara d’Asti, Dolcetto and the sweeter wines (ie. Moscato). Surely booking in a spa treatment would be a pleasurable way to spend part of the afternoon if you venture there (I certainly will try on my next visit) and if you find yourself in the city center around aperitvo time, Diana took me to a lovely wine bar, La Fonte del Vino, that has tables outside in the piazza in the summer time and the best buffet of nibbles I had seen in a long time to enjoy along with your glass of wine.

So, of all my “A” neighbours, Acqui Terme would be #1 on my list. Alessandria #2, and Asti comes in a poor #3 relative to the competition. As I mentioned earlier on, Aqui Terme is only 1 hour away from TorreBarolo, but if you want to spend more time in this little gem, I’d highly recommend you booking at Diana’s B&B.