This bottle was sweet - I dearly lament its recent demise and I’m already going through withdrawal.

Tonight’s Barbera was picked up at Fresh Market for $13, and was a complete Hail-Mary.  Why so dramatic? I’ve never heard of the vineyard, had only limited experience with barberas (less than 10 - 15 in my life) - I really didn’t know what to expect.

As it turns out, I was very pleasantly surprised.  Out of the bottle, the wine appeared fairly thin as it was being poured into the decanter.  After being decanted, undisturbed for 45 minutes, the wine was liberated and dinner was served.  The barbera was happily paired with homemade “gnocchetti all’ amatriciana”, or to the layman, gnocchi with pancetta in a red sauce.

This turned out to be an awesome dinner.

The gnocchi was so light, I felt like I was devouring a cloud.  The wine complemented the gnocchi very well…so well that I started to think about how spoiled I really am, for one fleeting moment.

On the nose, I picked up strong scents of cherries and vanilla, and down the hatch all I got was bright red berries…and it’s so smooth.  Sooooooo smooth.  The flavor is very vibrant, while still remaining a lighter wine.  I am really impressed with this one - nine-ish out of ten would be my rating.

I would be interested to hear if anyone else has had any other wines by Michele Chiarlo.  Do let me know if you’ve run across any others worth trying.

Ciao!
Ryan