2009 Castello di Neive Barbera d'Alba

We're still trying to decide what kind of red grape varieties to plant, so we are at "it" again, "it" being doing research and research in this case consists of ordering a case of various Italian Barberas and tasting through them. I know, it's difficult research but someone has to do it. In 2012, we went to the Sierra Foothills and spoke with Ann Kraemer and Dick Cooper about growing Barbera. The lesson we learned there is that Barbera is a grape variety that has a surfeit of acid and getting the proper balance between sugar and acid is important if we want to make quality wine.
We followed up the trip to the Sierra Foothills with a tasting of various Italian Barberas, but we remained unconvinced. This new tasting is changing our minds. We began with the 2009 Castello di Neive Barbera d'Alba from the Santo Stefano vineyard. When we first opened the bottle, I thought the wine was a little rustic, not a refined wine like say, a Nebbiolo. Two days later, we had this wine with garlic infused olive oil on semolina batard with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella and Italian blend cheese which my husband broiled. This combination worked. The wine was a perfect pairing with the simple food. The technical sheet for the 2009 Castello di Neive Barbera d'Alba mentions that the wine is made from grapes from the 3.7 acre Santo Stefano vineyard and produced 13,000 bottles.