 Welcome back to Exotic Wine Travel. I am your host, Maddie Warkie. Hi, I'm Shereen Tan. Welcome back to the show today. We are going to talk about a grape that both of us liked very much today. Barbera. Why do you like Barbera? It's probably one of the first or first few wine grapes I really fell in love with because I think it is the most friendly grape ever. Ever? One of those. You know, like really good acidity, crunchy, fresh. For those who don't know, it's from the area of Piamante. It's in northwest Italy. Northwest, I'm getting the geography right. Yes, it's in the land of Nebiolo. You know, where Barolo, Barbarisco, Nebiolo is more famous. Barbera kind of takes to the backseat, but in the recent years it started to gain traction. And I think it's a fantastic grape. Yeah, even when you go to Piedmont, right, the locals tend to usually say that when they are eating and drinking at home, they either take Barbera or Ducetto and other grape on a daily basis instead of like, you know, Nebiolo on a daily basis. Nebiolo can be hard to drink every day. So, you know, we met this cooperative in the Palenzo business to business tasting. You have to know for the wines that you see on the shelf at your local shop, there's a lot of work that goes into it. There are so many wines tasted, tasted, tasted, tasted until distributors, retailers, merchants find the exact wine for their market, right? Yeah, it was really interesting for us because we usually represent the media for us to do the sort of tasting because you learn from the other side, like you say, the trade side. And it was one of the most exhausting trips. I think that was intense tasting. Yeah, we tasted a ton. So anyways, we met this cooperative. So the cooperative is called Vinkio Vagliocera. I want to get that right because Vinkio and then Vaglio, they're two neighboring towns in Manferrato in Piedmont. So it's a cooperative. I love cooperative wineries. You know, for those of the new world, they're not so familiar with cooperative wineries. They're still pretty heavily, wine is made by a lot of cooperatives in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy because farmers with small plots of land can't afford all this expensive equipment. Everybody brings the grapes to one place. Therefore they can make the wine, they can market it, they can make it look nice, right? Yeah, I think it really has a role to play in society and also to the wine industry as well, especially if you're looking for high value and cheaper prices. Yeah, so I think cooperatives bring a lot of thunder, a lot of value for money. I'm attached to cooperatives because as my father's a produce farmer, we took some of our grains, some of our corn sometimes to a cooperative. So I have fond memories of that. In the wine world, I think cooperatives bring a lot of bang for the buck. So let's get started, shall we? Okay, my cat is over there. I'm distracted by my cat. If you see me turning that way, it's because I was looking at my cat. Let's start with, so in this part of, in Montferrato, you've got to understand that Barbera is actually the key grape, not Nebiolo. Some of the, in the area of Borrola Barbarisco, Barbera gets the lesser good positions for vineyards. Montferrato, they get the best positions. So we're going to start with the Itrei Vescovi, Vincchio Vagliocera, Barbera di Asti, superiorly 2017. This sauce, six months in oak. And for those of you out there, you're going to see a lot of times Barbera di Asti or Barbera da Alba, Shareen started to fall in love more with Barbera di Asti, right? I really like the, especially like you said, Montferrato. Without knowing anything about it, I tasted those wines and it stood out to me a couple of years ago. Smells great, smells like a Barbera, right? Cherry, cranberry. A little bit of like black cherry maybe. For me, Barbera always, I used to eat an obnoxious amount of dried cranberries when I was younger. And Barbera to me smells exactly like that. Barbera is a nice friendly food friendly alternative to San Giovese, I think. It has a little bit of this nice vanilla notes to it too. Let's give this a go here. Hey, I picked this mug for you. Look, it's a big bean, it's with tomato sauce. A little bit of pepper, let's give this a go. Oh my goodness. It's quite silky on the front and then it's got this bright acidity that cleanses on the ampoule. You get a lot of this cherry, cherry soda kind of finish to it. Just a touch of structure, you know. So I'm going to, you know, I think this is very classic Barbera di Asti, especially the entry level price point range. I think this wine is well under 10 euros. Awesome. I mean, for me, I'm about 88 points on this wine. Don't get discouraged when I talk about the score on this wine just because it doesn't bring a ton of complexity. It doesn't matter. This is the kind of wine that's going to please a lot of people. You know, throw it in the dinner table, everybody's going to like it, right? I mean, I often joke about how I wouldn't drink any wine that's like 90 points and below. And maybe this is not like exactly 90 points, but yet at the same time, this is exactly the kind of wine I would drink with food. This is the kind. You go into a trattoria in Asti in Italy. You throw down, you get this wine, probably five, six, seven euros. It's got to drink amazing with food, right? I would. I definitely would take it with food. I enjoy it very much. Let's move on. Another way that Barbera can be made, it can be blended. Like the Vincuvalia Cera, this is the Tutti Peruno Spararosa, Manferrato Rosso, 2015, 75% Cabernet Seven Yarn, 25% Barbera. And of course, this is aged in oak. Once again, this is made from some of the best, you know, when you have a cooperative winery, you have lots of growers, lots of different vineyards, and the winemaker selects the best vineyards to make certain wines. This is one of those wines. It's a little bit darker in color. And the nose is now a lot more Cabernet than Barbera. This, to me, though, has the classic Piedmont nose. Piedmont nose, got some hazelnuts. Hazelnuts are definitely quite early on the nose. Chocolate, dark cherries is good. Nice wine, especially I think in the shop, and don't quote me wrong, this is a sub 15-year-old wine. Let's give this a go. Very classic Italian nose. It's just that juicing palate that really attracts me. Napa Cab, Tuscan Cab, Cab drinkers, this is not what you're looking for. This is more kind of a linear cab, more medium body. It's still 14% alcohol. Doesn't have huge tannins, not huge fruit. But it's just a classic Italian red. What do you think? I think I'll rise classic Italian red. But if you put this side by side, I really prefer the pure Barbera. You like prefer the pure Barbera? If I have to compare, but I mean if it gives this to me, I would still like it as well, but I find that this is easier to drink and whereas this has like tannic bite on the finish, I'm not sure whether it's like, it's kind of like in the middle. I think it's a little bit more serious wine. I definitely think so. Because the Cabernet Sauvignon really gives some good structure and nice nose to it. I'm definitely 89 on this. I think it delivers a lot of wine for the money. Got some little soft tannins. We have tasted this wine before. This is a wine that opens up with time. It becomes a little bit more enjoyable. Really, really good stuff so far. Let's move on here. My big bean mug is filling up. The next is we have the Ladonna Nizza. 2015, Nizza is one of Barbera di Asti's crews, special villages, 30 months in large oak cask, 12 months in the bottle. 2015, when we were at the B2B tasting, we did a whole Nizza tasting and I fell in love with that crew. I have to admit, prior to the trip I had no idea I never knew about Nizza at all. So that was eye-opening as well. I agree with you, I like Nizza a lot because it brings more structure. The people who are working with the Barbera from Nizza seem to be doing quite a lot of experiment in the vinification process as well. So sometimes they even try to create a bigger structure at the Barbera. It's like all the different styles that's coming up from there. And you know what, we tasted some aged Nizzas and they age beautifully. Let's give this a go. Nizzas to me have just a tad more acidity, just a tad more tannin', just a tad more intensity. It's just a little bit closed right now. It's a little bit cold, so let's just warm it up for a second. Some green notes on the nose and I don't mean it as a criticism. I kind of like it. A little bit of capsicum, right? You're talking about to go with the dark cherry. I get some cedar, a little bit of tobacco. Anything else you pick up? You just went on and on already. You cover everything. Smells really great. Smells obviously more complex than the Barbera de Asti. Let's give this a go. It's lovely. The tannins are smaller than the previous one that's 75% cap. It's got a little bit of power in the back end. Still have the classic Barbera flavors, with just a little bit more wood, just a little bit of structure, but not too much. This is a wine I definitely think in age. This is a wine that's just nice and balanced. I like that it's crunchy in the front and then it kind of expands in the mid-palette. It's quite white on the mid-palette and then it tapers in again on the finish. There's more acidity and freshness, grapefruit-driven kind of wine. This is lovely. I thought the cab would actually do better than this, but I'm a hard 90. I'm a firm 90 on this. Would you agree? I would add a plus to it. Because it's 2015, I really think it has some progress. Barbera's got that crunchiness so it has that freshness, really wonderful. Fantastic wines. Good showing from Vincchio Vaglio. Co-operatives, especially in Italy, are bringing some serious thunder when it comes to value from money wines. Don't sleep on them. Try some Barbera's outside of the Barbarolo-Barbarisco area, the Lange area. Try some of the Nietzsche's. I think that you'll be pleasantly surprised. So guys, F, you know what? Make sure to drink lots of Barbera because it goes great with pasta. And me, there's wine, steak, there's wine, vegetables, there's wine, and Bonnecavada. So keep drinking adventurously, guys. Expand your palate, expand your mind. 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