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do bianchi

On The Road with the Barbera Boys (& Gal)

by whitney on March 8, 2010



Day 1. After 60 plus barbera wines under our belt, we hit the road for a mini tour of Asti wine country.

wheels on the bus

The guys doing what they do best. Jeremy- talking, Fredric- being a stone cold motha, Thor- smirking and Jon- looking like a Tom Ford model. First stop- a tasting of barbera senza solfiti (without sulfites) at Azienda Paolo Marcarino.

glasses

saignee

vino

We tried a barbera that was blended with 20% dried grapes…a bit reductive and amarone like, otherwise known as bit “too much wine” via Cory. Also tasted was an extremely gulpable cortese (aka “grandpa wine” as says Jeremy) straight from the tank. Lovely little amaretti cookies were served with our final wine, a moscato d’asti, the region’s golden child.

amaretti

the sauce

Thor and the barbera soaked mouth of Mr. Stuart George.

dilap

barrel

As our little bus worked its way up the hills, blankets of snow crept onto the vineyard slopes. We reached the cellar  at Il Falchetto for more barbera. And more moscato. A surprise hit was their “Lurei” 2007 Barbera D’Asti which that morning wasn’t as well received in the blind tasting for whatever reason. The mysteries of the palate and the bottle…

snow vines

cork

barbera

snow

As evening approached, it was time to hit the road again. We had another 37 producers to work through- before dinner.

open

menu

Bread was broken and wine was shared with the winemakers spread throughout the dining room and around our tables. After dinner, the boys hit the town for an ice cold beer- a welcome change of pace for their wine drenched palates. This gal decided to call it a day and hit the hay. Today- another full day of barbera. Giddy up!

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Barbera Bonanza!

by whitney on February 19, 2010



Me? I am a lucky son of a gun. In 2 weeks time, my nose will be deeply planted into a glass of Barbera. Not in my living room. Not in my kitchen. Not at a wine bar in LA. Not even in my bed (which may or may not have happened one or more times.) My nose and that glass of Barbera will be…in Italy. That’s right! And it won’t be just one glass of Barbera but hundreds. Jeremy Parzen, my official fairy godfather of Italian wine blogging, aka Do Bianchi enlisted me along with 7 other bloggers to cover the 2010 Barbera Meeting in Asti. I must confess writing that sentence is seriously surreal. I am almost sure someone named Reality is going to ring tomorrow and inform me of a misunderstanding. Until that call, I will continue on blissfully floating through my days and getting my bags packed.
i_heart_barbera

This is how it goes down. All of us bloggers will be boarding flights from cities all over the country. On March 7 we will descend upon Malpensa airport in Milan with our laptops, empty bellies yearning for Piedmont’s finest grub and mouths ready for massive amounts of Barbera in them. We will spend 4 days tasting Asti, Alba and Monferrato’s finest and blogging like crazy. In the words of Mr. Parzen, it is sure to be a “blogilicious” event. Check out the Barbera Meeting’s official blog where we’ll be posting our thoughts and observations from the tasting and all the other rad dinners and winemaker visits we will be enjoying (the enjoyment factor of this trip is kind of getting out of control.)

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