Community Tasting Note

forceberry wrote:

Friday, April 24, 2015 - Single vineyard "Super-Barbera" from ~55 yo vines. Aged for 12-14 months in solely new barriques.

Almost opaque black cherry color. Very rich, almost exuberant and extremely oak-driven nose with aromas of milk chocolate, sweet dark cherry, toasted caramel oak, smoke, somewhat pronounced alcohol and some prune jam. Very rich, sweet and opulent palate with really oak-driven flavors. Notes of overripe red cherry, cocoa, roasted oak spice, clove, some milk chocolate, a little canilla and a hint of cranberry fruit. The alcohol punches a bit through, giving the wine slightly hot feeling. Typical of the variety, the tannins are very low, with only the wood tannins giving the wine some coarse roughness without contributing to the structure. The acidity is rather low as well, giving the wine very dull and flat overall appearance. The finish is very lengthy, but only because the new oak flavors persist for so long in the mouth. Powerful, long-lingering flavors of toasted caramel oak, milk chocolate, vanilla, some cocoa and a little mocha in the aftertaste.

Seriously? Was this a Barbera? This wine has nothing of those crunchy berry flavors or bright acidity of a good Barbera; instead this tastes only of oak, oak and some more oak. I have no idea why some producers are so intent on making these super-extracted oak monster Barberas, because the variety lacks the oomph and the tannins to support that kind of opulent body. All those super-Barberas taste exactly like this one: overdone oak extraction without any notion of structure or freshness, overwhelming all the typical characteristics of the variety. You couldn't pinpoint this wine to Piedmont - or even Italy - even if your life depended on it. Wine devoid of structure, elegance and personality. Horrible. Good only if you like your wines like your chocolate milkshakes: sweet and tasting like chocolate milkshakes. At 28,50€ this is a ripoff.

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