2023 Barbera

Barbera is awesome. I really can’t summarize it better than that. It’s one of those slightly finicky grapes to farm and make wine from, but every expression of the fruit is just that, expressive! If it’s picked under ripe, the intense sour red cherry acidity pulls front and center. Over ripe and it still retains acid balance but delivers bigtime in body, black fruits, and sweet cigarbox savoryness.

For 2023, we picked the Barbera at a slightly lower sugar level than usual to highlight its bright, fruit-forward character while keeping alcohol in check. We paired the earlier harvest with a lighter oak toast to lift the aromatics and enhance the wine’s silky texture.

 

We always anticipate the delivery of the Barbera fruit with a mix of excitement and trepidation towards sorting the ice cold fruit from the tiny leaves scattered throughout. Numb fingers and sticky arms are the norm for those cold October mornings.
Leland Noma provided us with our very first vintage back in 2010 and offered us a 1/2 ton of Barbera. He said “If you sell it, pay me. If it doesn’t work, don’t worry about it.” From the first year working with that 1/2 ton, we’ve grown the program to well over 10 tons.
One of four original 1978 trial plantings of Barbera in the Lodi appellation, his field has become one of my favorites to work with. It sits in deep sandy soil in the south section of Lodi that requires a deft hand to maintain good water balance, yet yields consistently ripe and balanced fruit year after year.