This was the other wine my best friend John chose for us to try with our Italian take out. Officially called Carlo Revello & Figli Barbera D’Alba Superiore. It was another recommendation from the local wine superstore.
John found it to be crisp with a bit of lavender. I gave it a flavor of “raspberry J-ello” as it has the sweet sugary flavor of raspberries, not the tart raspberry you often get.
The seafood stuffed mushrooms really brought out the fruit flavor. For John the bruschetta (which was odd with capers) brought out pepper and clove. I got a bit more allspice with the capers. The wine was sharp with the bruschetta, according to all three of us.
The eggplant parm his mom and I had made it fruity but didn’t kill the aroma of the wine. The chicken parm brought out the sweet fruit flavors but didn’t change the aroma, just dulled it down a bit.
Final Thoughts
In the beginning, John’s mom gave this wine a muddy rating for the feel (texture) on her tongue, but found that food killed the “muddiness.” I agree, the food took away the drying nature of the wine.
It wasn’t bad with the chocolate pie either.
We liked this one and would put it more as a Thursday wine – as it was one we all agreed that we could drink, plus it has a price point over $25/bottle. Plus we loved the label. So, you might find another bottle in the rack for the next time we’re craving Italian take-out.