Barbera 2010: Pride in Simplicity?

Yesterday the Barbera 7 visited a producer by the name of Azienda Agricola Negro. One of the first questions we asked was “have you got any unoaked wines?”

“Si si si” came the answer. So she poured us the unoaked wines, a fantastic Langhe Nebbiolo and a Barbaresco. The thing was she also insisted on pouring us the top cuvees as well, which had been aged in barriques. Guess which ones we preferred?

She was a bit taken aback that we liked the unoaked cuvees the best. They showed vintage, variety, region, while the oak on the other ones obliterated much of this.

It has happened time and time again. We taste the producer’s oaked wine blind and come away with a negative opinion. We visit the same producer and they show us an unoaked wine and our opinion changes. The problem is they aren’t excited enough about the simpler wines to want to showcase them (this is, of course, is not unique to Italy).

It has been mentioned several times during our stay by Jeremy that simple Italian foods have conquered the world, so why haven’t so many Italian producers realized the same thing? They still make these beautifully simple wines, wines that go with food, wines that are light and show off so much of what is Italian. If i can ask one thing of these producers it’s to take pride in these wines they make. Show them off, not barriques from France.

~ by Cory Cartwright on March 13, 2010.