2019 The Little Wine Company Barbera

It starts with cranberries, sweet tobacco, basil and sour cherries. Driven by acidity, there’s great tension in this wine. High-toned red apple skins, rose petals. Raw almonds are here too. All pinned down by fine-grained chalky tannins. More leafy spice evolve in the glass. There’s lovely red fruit here but altogether it’s more of a savoury style. This is your alternative go-to, Pinot and Nebbiolo drinkers. It’s an impressive Hunter Barbera.

Another of Italy’s finest grapes finds a home in the Hunter Valley. The colour here is deep red. We have a nose exhibiting pleasing spice notes, most notably a whiff of pepper (of this, I know of what I speak – the dodgy old pepper grinder just broke and dumped several hundred peppercorns into tonight’s mince). There are darker fruits here, blackcurrants in particular, with an attractive supple palate and bright acidity. This is well structured and has everything in place to age for another decade, if you want, before finishing with excellent length and good grip. As a refreshing style with good intensity, it is most certainly a very fine food wine.