A Tale of Two Cities: Barbera from Alba and Asti
We’ve had a sweltering few weeks here in Southern California, so when the temps recently dropped into the glorious 80s, I took the opportunity to turn on my oven for the first time in awhile to make veggie lasagne. I lived in Bologna, Italy, back in college, so I know the joy of a proper Bolognese lasagne. In fact, it’s one of my favorite foods in the world. But it also takes all day to do it right. Enter veggie lasagne: relatively quick, loaded with hidden vegetables for my kids, and delicious. It’s the perfect combination of hedonism and healthy. Win/win.
It also gave me a perfect backdrop to open up some Barbera. Barbera is a marvelous grape from Piedmont, and, though it doesn’t quite reach the heights (or fame) of Nebbiolo, it is absolutely delicious and pairs well with almost anything thanks to its notoriously high acidity. This makes it a great candidate for everyday dinner-table drinking, especially when you’re eating something with tomato sauce. Even better for a SoCal summer night, it does well with 10 or 20 minutes in the fridge before opening. A friend was bringing some wild boar sausage for an outdoor, socially distanced dinner, and I figured Barbera would bring out the best in both dishes. But… I couldn’t choose which one! So we had the pleasure of a side-by-side tasting of two quite different, but equally delightful wines.
We started with the 2018 Barbera d’Alba from Barale Fratelli, one of our wonderful Direct Import producers from Barolo. This Barbera is sourced from Alba in the southwestern part of Piedmont, a town that is often called the culinary capital of the Langhe. It’s also an area that is often planted to Nebbiolo for Barolo, so it’s a bit more rare to find Barbera from here. Barale’s version is bright with pure dark cherry fruit and some fun herbal and floral accents. It has full, ripe fruit on the palate with smooth tannins, great energy, and an elegant texture. It has that beautiful high acid that Barbera is beloved for, and it is just alive and full of dark red fruit. It was a great wine to start with.
Our next bottle was the 2018 Vietti “Tre Vigne” Barbera d’Asti. Vietti is an iconic producer of Barolo, but all the wines in their lineup are well worth seeking out. This Barbera was sourced from Asti in the Monferrato Hills. It had more texture and tannins than the Barale counterpart, with a darker, brooding fruit profile of blackberries and currants and spice. And that signature acidity still sang through. The Barale worked a bit better with the lasagne, while the Vietti hit the savory, gamey notes in the sausage just right.
Luca Currado Vietti compared Alba and Asti to Napa and Sonoma in this great explanatory video on Wine Spectator’s website, and he went on to say that Alba tends to create wines of elegance while Asti produces those of more rustic charm. I’d say that comparison is spot on with these two wines. Both are made by longtime producers and masters of their craft, and encapsulate perfectly the difference between the two regions and the allure of each. Both also clock in at under $20 so there’s really no reason not to take both home!
All in all, a happy feast.
- Kate Soto