Giordano Barbera D’asti (2007)

I had a number of options in choosing what to pair with my osso buco. I did think local … really, I did. But in the end, I went to the terroir of the dish, I went to Northern Italy, and I selected from my cellar a wine that’s been sitting there for about 5 years, waiting. Now you might conclude from this that this must be an extraordinary wine, beyond your reach … why else did he keep it for that long? The truth is it is an affordable wine and easy to locate. And the fact is that I started cellaring it to see if it improved with a bit more age … and then I kinda forgot it was there … and half way through the cellaring I thought, well, you’ve kept it this long, you might as well save it for something special now. Enter my osso buco ….

A first taste is bright cherries and an under-ripe Italian prune-plum. With a buttery finish, it has a nice syrupy clinginess to it that belies the fact that is a $14 bottle of wine. Richly flavoured, this will stand up to strongly flavoured and acidic foods like the meaty rich tomato sauces of Northern Italy … but it’s an excellent and very affordable pairing with pizza as well.

As you can see, it pours a rich dark dark almost blackberry or black cherry … in other words, it looks like it tastes. Arguably, my experience is a bit different than many since it’s been in my cellar for so long, but 15 minutes in, the alcohol was less commanding and the wine just settled in for a beautiful petting of my palette. Still with excellent tanins, that’s why it stands up well to these foods. While the wine is what I’d say is medium-bodied and quite dry it also has a flavour that tastes sweet … the flavour, not the wine itself, if you get my distinction. The aftertaste with that inherent smooth creaminess reminds me of a cherry ripple ice cream at the end … and I just want another, and another, and another scoop.

Excellent excellent value. Buy it now, save a bottle or two if you’re inclined … or drink it now. However, if you do, I’d suggest an hour Giordano Barbera d'asti (back) or two of decanting, depending on what you’re serving with it. But be to be clear, this is a wine to be paired with food … like most Italian wines.