Getting to Know Barbera

Considering how much wine I drink, I know little about it. But here we are living in Italy—one of the richest centers of viniculture—and I aspire to learn more. Last Saturday was a great opportunity to do so, thanks to a co-worker of Jim’s and friend of ours. John, who does know about wine, had made arrangements to take a busload of folks up to the Piedmont area and visit the Alfiero Boffa winery near Asti.

Alfiero Boffa, the man and the winery, specializes in wines made from the barbera grape in the region of Asti. These wines, like certain wines from other regions in Italy, have been given a special quality designation called DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita). In other words, "we know where this wine comes from and it's good." We had bought some of Alfiero Boffa's wines last year, so we knew they were good. I just didn’t know why.

After a 2-hour bus ride, our group of 13 arrived at the winery and was greeted by Signore Boffa. His first task was to show the six of us women where the bathroom was! Next, he gave us a detailed tour of his operation, showing us the equipment and describing the process in this boutique winery, producing only 100,000 bottles a year, of which 70 percent are exported. High in malic acid and low in tannins, barbera grapes are the third most planted grape in Italy. The grapes, which originated in this area, produce a wine that is fresh and enjoyed at a young age (the wine, not the drinker), but as we were to learn first-hand, older vines can produce more complex wines worthy of aging. Alfiero's vineyards have vines that date back to when his grandfather started the business.

Our first sample of Alfiero’s wines was drawn from an oak barrel in the underground cellar. It was a blend that had been in the barrel for a year and had another year to go. I was told that it was a bit green, but my palette isn’t refined enough to know these things. Sure it tastes a bit green, if you say so. And therein lies my problem with winetasting. If someone tells me what I’m tasting, I understand. Left to my own devices, it usually boils down to “this is really good,” “I don’t care for that so much,” and “not bad.” If you gave me a blind taste of wines, I worry that I will chose the 5 euro bottle over the 50 euro one. Some people have said, "that's o.k., all that matters is that you like it." But I want to know what makes a good wine by consensus.

The hundreds of oak barrels in Alfiero’s cellar are from France. Storage in oak barrels helps balance the acidity of the barbera by leaching tannins into the wine and is a relatively new advancement in wine making in this region.

As part of the barrel-making process, the inside of the barrel is heated. This “toasting” of the barrel imparts a particular flavor to the wine, so new barrels are used to store Alfiero's blends, giving him another tool in creating a certain taste. Alfiero uses a new barrel for four years and then it is dismantled, cleaned, and re-assembled. These cleaned barrels are used for his specialty cru wines so that the “toasting” doesn’t interfere with the true flavors of the grape.

Next stop, was the wine tasting room where our group proceeded to get “toasted.” Alfiero set out specially printed placemats showing the vintages of the wine that we would try, and we all gathered around a table in anticipation. Alfiero’s wife assisted, and she and Alfiero began to serve us, newest wines first. We started with a 2008 blend and worked our way down to a 1998 blend. In between we had five crus and another blend, all of different vintages. The wine was served with great care including rinsing each glass with the wine to be served before pouring, as you can see in the video.

A “cru” is a wine made of grapes from a single vineyard. No blending. I found it fascinating that the same grape variety, the same vintner, and the same process produced such different tasting wines. When you are comparing similar wines side-by-side like this, you really get to taste the influence of the land

(the soil and the aspect of the slope) and you get to taste the influence of aging. With the benefit of having the vintner on hand, you learn a great deal more. Alfiero, who proudly stands at the head of our table, tells us that "this wine comes from grapes where the soil has lots of clay, so you'll notice a dark cherry flavor. This wine comes from grapes where the soil has lots of lime, which imparts an almond flavor. This is a 2004 cuve and you are now starting to smell more floral aromas. This wine was made in honor of my father."

After sampling eight of Alfiero's wines, we were shuttled off to Belbo Bardon, a regionally famous restaurant serving traditional food of the Asti area. I have to admit that the lunch was a bit of a blur, but I can tell you that there was a lot of meat dishes I have never tried before and probably never will again. Raw ground meat and boiled tongue, brain, and lung...it all tasted great, the service was excellent, and of course it was accompanied by more of Alfiero's wine.

After lunch, we were driven back to the winery to place our order. Alfiero served us his Moscato d'Asti, a sweet dessert wine. Needless to say, it was challenging to tally up everyone's orders and accurately communicate that to Alfiero. We loaded up about 60 boxes of wine into the back of the bus, and then the Merry Pranksters headed home. Two hours later, wine distribution in a dark parking lot was a test of our sobriety. The wine was successfully delivered and in the end we were only off by three cases. Not bad, all things considered.

So, I now feel a bit educated on barbera wine, and we have a few cases of wine in our cantina for some follow-up studies. With the barbera grape under my belt, we only have 47 or so DOCG wines to go. Cin cin!

Here are more pictures from our outing.