2004 Giuseppe Contratto Barbera d'Asti Panta Rei

Garagiste

• By Jon Rimmerman
  8/20/2007, (See more on Garagiste...)

  (BARBERA Panta Rei Contratto) Contratto Dear Friends, It’s time to discover Contratto - a Piedmontese house that has been in production since the mid 1800s but has languished in the minds of US consumers for far too long. As one of the leaders in the qausi-traditional meets modern movement around Alba (they are actually based in Canelli), this estate gets too little credit for influencing others that have larger marketing arms or exporters (read: Clerico, Scavino, Spinetta, Altare, et al). Contratto’s wines are far less modern than the preceding list and they fall somewhere between an old-world house like Conterno and a quasi-modern one such as Bruno Rocca. However you slice it, Contratto’s time to be discovered is now and the best way to begin is with a terrific bargain wine that will introduce the style of the estate - the Barbera Panta Rei. Unlike many in Piedmont, the winery has a very demanding philosophy of owning or controlling in entirety the vineyard that they source grapes from (this is not the norm). Therefore, if they make a Barolo, Barbera, Gavi, etc - all are from estate land that they own in each region - they will not simply purchase fruit for production. Their Barbera vineyards at Agliano d’Asti are revered as some of the finest in all of Piedmont but (in my estimation) they have underperformed for years. That brings us to today’s wine... To change the perception of their Barbera, Contratto wanted to produce a wine with the clout of Bricco dell’Uccellone but sell it at a moderate price. Not possible? Enter Giancarlo Scaglione, the man that created Bricco dell’Uccellone and a person that does not take no for an answer. He was hired by the winery a number of years ago to develop this wine and in 2004 he has finally brought forth a world-class effort for a bargain price - I will let you decide if he has succeeded but the deep, stony red fruit, fantastic acidity and lingering finish speak for themselves. Unlike something like La Spinetta Barbera which is dense and purple, this wine retains its traditional red-fruit core of strength, cutting style and deft minerality that has an immediate sense of breed instead of a sense of international extract or nonsense. Due to the extreme quality of the harvest in 2004, it was the right vintage to kick-start their new program with Barbera but (in my opinion) they should have changed the name of the Panta Rei as it’s a wine that has been in the market for a number of years with only marginal quality. In the end, they decided to keep the same name of the wine but change the bottle slightly (consumers can be quite unforgiving of a wine with a past history of mediocrity even if the wine is completely different - we’ll see). The price has also gone up but it’s more than justified for the marked increase in quality and this wine now represents the bone that others in the region must chase. The 2004 Panta Rei is going to get a lot of attention, simply from the vintage alone. Before it does, we have an outstanding price on this item, about the same as in Asti. Even if you normally steer clear of Barbera, this is an excellent opportunity to experiment and educate your palate. Even if you do not fall in love, your wine-sense will be all the better for it but my guess is that many of you will have found your new house wine. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for excellent quality, price and opportunity to discover a winery that has been on the tip of Piedmont’s tongue for generations. ONE SHIPMENT ONLY at this price 2004 Contratto Barbera d’Asti “Panta Rei” Thank you, Jon Rimmerman Garagiste Seattle, WA Italy7610