Tuesday, December 2, 2025

2022 Passionfruit Estate Barbera

In 2022, our red varieties were coming mature enough to give us a fair amount of fruit to harvest. The cabernet sauvignon came in at around 1300 pounds, the cabernet franc at 1200 pounds and the barbera at 600 pounds.
In 2022 we were able to make a barrel of cabernet sauvignon, a barrel of cabernet franc and a red blend of cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and barbera. There was still a little barbera left after making the blend.
We sent the wines to be tested for alcohol level and had a bit left to fill a half bottle of cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and barbera.
Recently, we brought out the barbera so that we could taste it. This wine has not been filtered or fined and the color was a clear garnet in the glass. The aromas were muted but the flavor was one of cranberries and sour cherries. It paired perfectly with the classic Margarita pizza that we ordered from one of our favorite pizza places, The Back Door in the Velvet Mill.
Barbera is not a grape that has a lot of phenolics, but it does have a lot of acid. The sugars in the barbera accumulate quickly so that it offsets the acid. Our 2022 barbera had these numbers:
Variety Harvest Date Brix pH TA
g/L
Lbs Gals
Barbera
10/21/2022 22.5 3.00
10.0
~600 48
We are hoping to bottle this barbera in the coming days. Stay tuned for an email from Passionfruit Estates annoucing the release of this 2022 barbera!