October 10, 2023 - My last bottle from a case bought on release. While I was not a fan of this wine on release, after about 10 years it started to settle in and provide pleasurable, balanced drinking. This has never been an elegant wine, but if you like copious fruit in your wine, this will fill the bill. Red & black fruit on the nose, expansive on the palate, and while I don't see a lot of upside here, no reason why the wine can't continue to maintain itself on this plateau for another 3-7 years.
May 10, 2023 - Opened for 45 minutes. Lovely. Rich and light at the same time; dry, with subtle fruit, and excellent with food.
September 18, 2022 - Wonderful - let breathe for 30 minutes
June 20, 2021 - Aging beautifully, but still quite vibrant, with fresh sour cherry fruit and terrific balance.
September 19, 2020 - Tasted along with the 2016. This one showed more reserved fruit compared to the 16. A mix of red and darker tones. Not really showing a lot of aged character. Unfortunately, this wasn’t paired well with the food, so maybe I would have liked it more in the right situation. I think I am just not a big fan of Barbera.
August 23, 2020 - the last of what has been a fabulous case of wine - lovely balance with ample fruit and great complexity - highly recommended
February 29, 2020 - This bruiser of a Barbera has settled into a terrific place, on a high plateau of maturity with none of the tertiary notes I picked up in a recent bottle of the 05 stored in the same ideal conditions. Rich and complex without feeling over extracted and almost syrah like in its weight and palate feel. Absolutely delicious if you like Roberto's style (and what's not to like about it?) and really sang with a delicious pot roast that had a tomato/dried porcini sauce. I had held onto an 85 CF Barbera for many years and stuck it into a Barolo tasting in maybe 06 or 07, when it turned into a wine that had the nuance of a fine, delicate, well aged, Barolo normale, and this 06 seems to have a similar potential now that it has reached bar mitzvah age! Just a brilliant effort!
December 9, 2019 - This was good and food friendly, soft cherry, well balanced, not particularly long or complex.
November 29, 2019 - This wine has settled into an interesting "middle-age" - when it was a young wine on release, I felt it was too over the top, but the last several times I've tried it, I find myself liking it more and more.
Balanced and nuanced on the palate, with a fruit-forward nose. And at 13 years of age, I don't get the felling that this is going to drop off a cliff any time soon. While I don't usually think about aging Barbera, this particular wine does benefit from the additional time in the bottle.
August 1, 2019 - Well aged now. Dark fruits a bit of smoke, a hint of sweetness in the fruit. Good length. I dont think this has improved the last 2-3 years and I think this is it in terms of complexity now, but it seems it could stay at this plateau a few more years before fading.