Our wine guru Gary Chevsky, back in November 2009, experimented with some Barbera wines from Piemonte:

“Unclear why anyone would want to drink aged Barbera, a wine grape that is associated with easy quaffing and everyday meals. In the land where Nebbiolo is firmly the king, why mess with that? Let Barbera and Dolcetto play their lowly part in the food chain. Affordable, refreshing, satisfyingly easy drinking table wines. What would the world do without them, no?

But of course someone is always ready to challenge status quo, try to make an eagle out of a sparrow, a Boeing out of a paper plane. Treat Dolcetto like a more serious grape, and you get Dolcetto di Dogliani, deeper, richer, more ageable. Treat Barbera like that, and what do you get?

On Monday, a small group of enthusiasts got together at a Ross Bott tasting in Los Altos to assess 1999-2001 Barberas by La Spinetta. La Spinetta has a “standard” or lower-end Ca’ Di Pian wine that costs in the teens, and a higher-end wine that costs $40-50. Having tasted Gaja’s 1995 Barbera “Sitorey” earlier this year and having found it a powerful, fresh, and nuanced wine, my expectations were mixed. After all, that was Gaja! Could anyone else approach that effort?

From the mailer by Ross Bott, the organizer:

The varietal is naturally high in acid and low in tannins, and, when vinified in a lighter style to be drunk young, is a fine everyday wine to complement pastas and other northern Italian dishes. However, when yields are kept low and the grapes are harvested at riper levels, the resultant wines can be deep, complex and long aging, and marry particularly well with new medium toasted (or charred) oak barrels. Ironically, this approach is a relatively recent phenomenon in Piedmonte. In fact, some of the earliest examples of this approach were in the Shennandoah Valley in California, where Montevina made some great old Special Selection Barberas in the late 1970s — to my view the most exciting wines ever to come out of the Sierra Foothills.

In 1998, Giuseppe Rivetti began to make a Barbera Superiore under his La Spinetta label, a serious, high-end approach involving old vines, low yields, and aging for 12-18 months in new French oak. Rivetti was born in Argentina, but his family was Piedmontese, and he returned in 1977 to the Asti region, in an area then known for Moscato d’Asti, a fragrant, low alcohol wine made from a varietal in the Muscat family. After producing some landmark examples of this white wine, he ventured into reds in 1985, first with Barbera and later adding Barbarescos and Barolos. He produces three Barberas a year, a Ca’ Di Pian which is richer and riper than most Barberas, but sees less oak, a Gallina from a single vineyard which also provides the grapes for his Barbaresco, and a Superiore, which is a reserve bottling from a selection of his best barrels. Both of the latter get extended barrel treatment and are among the three or four best Barberas produced anywhere.

Tonight, we’ll try six La Spinetta Barberas, a pair from each of 1999, 2000 and 2001. One member of each pair will be the lightly oaked Ca’ Di Pian and the other an example of his highest end Barberas which get extended treatment in new oak.”

While the top 3 wines still “showed” young, it is as if they had artificially been beefed up to last longer, and the age did not give them subtlety, complexity, and secondary flavors that I’ve seen develop in properly aged ageworthy wines. It seemed rather pointless to me to spend $45 a bottle, then cellar it for 10 years, when in that range one finds some wonderful Nebbiolo and Sangiovese options. While obviously we confirmed Barbera’s ageability, I would not call that ageworthiness. It bothered me that the wines lacked finesse and complexity, and the question that firmly stuck in my mind was – “What’s the point!???”

A shortlist of some the most important Italian wines events for the coming months, recommended by TorreBarolo:

As already mentioned in a previous post back in October last year,  tomorrow SlowFood will introduce its own eagerly awaited Italian Wine Guide 2010, that will have less focus on awarding stars and a greater focus on informing consumers of the land, the people, the history and the climate that contribute to the vintage.

On January 30^th and 31^st in Verona the Consorzio Tutela Vini Valpolicella will present the Amarone della Valpolicella Millesimo 2006.

From February 14 to 18 Nobile di Montepulciano Millesimo 2007 gets its turn at an event in Montepulciano dedicated to the public and sector professionals organized by the Consorzio del Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.

The tradition will continue in Florence, which will host the annual “Chianti Classico Collection” on February 16 and 17. Tastings will be offered of Gallo Nero vintages 2009, 2008 and 2007 reserve organized by Chianti Classico Collection.

On February 19 and 20 Montalcino will host “Benvenuto Brunello”, which will present the 2005 reserve organized by Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino.

From March 4 to 7, Sciacca will be hosting “Sicilia en Primeur”, during which the rating for Sicily’s 2009 vintage will be announced.

From 20 July 2010 to 15 May 2011 the international exhibition Vinum Nostrum, in Florence at the Museo degli Argenti – Palazzo Pitti. Original artefacts, sculptures, frescoes, and mosaics as well as videos and other multimedia devices will tell the story of wine and the vineyards it comes from. There will even be a reconstruction of a wine cellar from ancient Pompeii, created following literary descriptions. From Mesopotamia to modern-day Italy, from the rituals of communion to the celebration of plain drunkenness, wine and the vineyards. Info at Firenze 2010 – Un Anno d’Arte.