Italian Barbera

[Innkeeper]

1998 Maria Borio, Cascinacastle't, Barbera D'Asti. Bottle has a picture of Maria as a little girl sitting on a Vespa with three of her sisters. Despite that, the wine is still very nice. Starts with a burst of almost jammy plum fruit up front, with smooth tannin and acid in the middle, and a memorable finish. Matched with freshly made sweet Italian sausage, with sliced very ripe plum tomatoes covered with thin slices of freshly made buffalo mozzarella, sprinkled with basil, and lathered with vinaigrette. The wine married just as nicely with the tomatoes as with the sausage. Let's hear it for acid. Got the wine along with a couple of other selections at Vino in New York during our infamous visit there. It ran around $13.00.