Villa Giado Barbera d'Asti

[Innkeeper]

1998 Villa Giada, Ajan (short for Agliano), Barbera D'Asti (D.O.C.), Superiore ($15.00). One of Roberto's. This is a really big (tempted to say huge) barbera at 13.5% alcohol. It was wonderful. Deep, dark, almost purple but still red color, it showed jammy fruit on the nose. Another blast of fruit upfront, earthy complexity and smooth tannin on the palate, and a kick in the arse in the finish. Highly recommended. Had it with ham slabs dusted with granulated garlic, dipped in beaten egg, coated on both sides with sliced almonds, sauteed in butter; with the pan degalazed with a half cup of cream whisked with a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, poured over the ham. A nice accompaniment of the last Italian green beans in the freezer boiled down in chicken stock, butter, savory, salt, & pepper; made for a delightful meal.

[RAD]

IK, you've got my mouth watering again.

RAD

[winoweenie]

Sounds juicy. You didn't put 4 parts water with the Barbera to make it taste like a Calif Cab Did you IK? WW

[Innkeeper]

Didn't dilute that one, but could have the '99 Bonny Doon Ca' del Sole, Barbera, Monterey last night. It weighed in at 14.5% alcohol. Still had enough luscious fruit to overcome most of it, but Mother said it was a little hot. Coming from her, that's serious. Hard to tell if time would have cooled things down. Probably not. This time the Italian won.

[Innkeeper]

Popped another of these last night. It had thrown gobs of sediment, so I gave it the ole coffee filter treatment. Didn't slow it down an iota. A little less fruit, and a little more complexity than previous TN. This time matched it with good ole Veal Scaloppini Marsala, and salad vinaigrette. Worked wonderfully.

[Thomas]

IK, I think the coffee filter might have something to do with the "little less fruity." I find that a coffee filter, plus the oxygenation that it engenders can truly upset a wine.

[Innkeeper]

Only do this when the sediment is sticking to the cork, the sides of the bottle, and can be seen throughout. Then I don't use just any filter. I use specially made ones that are chlorine free, and have no detectable flavors to add. The are like very light brown paper bags. Get them from a whole food market.

The result in this case was the same color as before, and just as nice, actually a richer wine than the one I tried in April. Don't believe we lost much in the process.