2019 The Little Wine Company 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.

There are 50,000 hectares of barbera in Italy and, as The Little Wine Company 2019 Barbera shows, it thrives in the Hunter's Broke area. This one has 14.2% alcohol, bright garnet hues and gamey aromas. The front palate shows ripe blackberry flavour, the middle Maraschino cherry, plum, spice and mocha oak and the finish has dusty tannins.