Barbera vs Zinfandel

Went to a new Italian pizza place that just opened and my friend and I each took a bottle. Neither of us knew what the other was bringing.


My bottle:

2015 Elio Sandri Barbera d’Alba - fairly dark, with aromas of dark fruit - blackberry and currant, with a herbal aspect and a hint of earthiness. On palate a smooth rounded wine with good balance and length ending with hints of bittersweet chocolate. Great with the food.

His Bottle:

2005 Woodenhead Zinfandel Martinelli Road Old Vines - whoa - big dark wine with a huge nose of sweet dried fruit, still significant tannins, and a ripeness and sweetness that seemed overpowering after the previous wine. Good length, but as far as being a match with the food, no contest with the Barbera. Hunk of blue cheese, and the contest might have swung the other way.

That does sound like an odd pair, Bill! Kind of night and day.

Yes - the excellent match with the clean acidic Barbera and then the jarring sweet ripe wine that just wasn’t doing anything for the food.

Martinelli zin is closer in style to port for me. Not a fan of the wines and definitely not for pairing with food. Besides generally being overripe, they usually seem flabby to me and serving with food, especially anything with acid like tomatoes, just amplifies that.

Barbera is a perfect match on the other hand.

If I am going to have anything other than a classic Italian variety (e.g. Dolcetto, Barbera, Sangiovese) with my pizza, it will be a leaner zin, more like an old school Ravenswood.

I like southern Italian reds or bubbles with traditional pizza. Do agree barbera, dolcetto work too.

Woodenhead is the producer.

I’m with Rich, Martinelli Roads Zins (regardless of producer) are best licked off your lover’s nipples rather than paired with food.

Plenty of other Zins pair really well with pizza, particularly when topped with cured meats.

Sicily is my favorite choice for pizza, especially Cerasuolo (Occhipinti’s SP68 being my favorite). Also like Sangiovese, Barbera, and Langhe Rosso. With so many good Italian choices I almost never look elsewhere with pizza.

Some of Ravenswood’s least expensive Zins are light enough to pair pretty well with Italian food.

As for Dolcetto, does anyone recall when it was the Beaujolais of that part pf Italy, a nice light fresh fruity wine, before it was transformed/Parkerized and pumped/plumped up into something it had never been before, denser and riper, capable of garnering more points from the pointy-heads, but far less typical of what the wine began as?

I still get Dolcetto that is lighter in body, though it’s always tannic. That’s just the grape.

David, it is possibly a conscious choice by the importers to only bring in the ‘big’ Dolcettos that get great reviews. Another example of this phenomenon is that in my market we get all the big blowsy Australian wines I can’t stand, while they continue making lovely balanced reds that simply aren’t being imported here. Certainly gives a skewed view of what is happening with the wines.