Turns out that my spouse and I will be traveling to California to take in the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium. For the first time we have plans to make a short trip into the Sierra Foothills to try a few wines and enjoy the countryside. We would like to seek out barbera wines which retain some of the racy acidity its known for. Can you recommend wineries in that area that express the climate and retain some acidity? Thank you…Gary
Hi Gary - take it for what it’s worth, when I go there it’s for the old-vine zin and Rhônes, and I’m not a Barbera aficionado by any means, but I had good notes on a Dillian Barbera. You could do worse.
I visited the area in May and there’s actually a lot of Barbera being made there now. Some of it is quite good, but don’t expect it to be like the Italian Barberas with which you’re familiar. The acid levels are just not the same. I would second the recommendation of Dillian. Cooper is probably the best (and grows the grapes some of the others use). Runquist also was worth checking out.
Gary,
I agree on the Dillian also. Of the ones I’ve tasted, I’ve liked this the best. The Barberas are a different animal from their Italian counterparts. They seem to be more lush and full. Personally, I like what some are doing with Rhone varietals.
I grew up just down the hill, and when we go to visit the family, my wife and I will pop up for a quick tasting run from time to time. Some fun places to visit.
If you can, have dinner at Taste in Plymouth. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve been, but it was great.
Not had the Dillian or Cooper, Gary. I have liked the Boeger’s quite a bit but my top pick would be BillEaston’s Barberas.
Tom
As with all the recommendations above, I’d look at Amador as the place for the best Barbera in the Sierra Foothills. I’d add Convergence to the list of good Amador Barberas to check out. And a strong second on the recommendation for dining at Taste, easily the best restaurant I’ve been to in the Sierra Foothills.
Many thanks for the suggestions so far. My hope is that we can taste barberas that have a clear California pedigree with some inherent acidity and only moderate alcohol. Cooper and Yorba(Shake Ridge Vineyards) were high on my list to visit as they have a recognized viticulture expertise for barbera and produce good wine. Dillian, Convergeance, & Easton are now on our list to visit. I had Taste in my sights previously but you guys sealed it…how’s eating in the bar? Very much looking forward to seeing what the Sierra Foothills are like. Hope the weather cooperates…Cheers, Gary
+1 on Runquist(winemaker for QPR McManus)
Along with the above recs I would add Vino Noceto for their Linsteadt Vineyard Barbera. They are right next to Terre Rouge Easton.
Good call, I forgot that Noceto made a Barbera along with all their Sangioveses, which are also worth checking out. I think Easton’s Barbera might be sourced from Cooper’s vineyard but not sure about that.
Well I thought I would report back on out trip. Eventhough it was raining most of the time the people we visited were welcoming and very generous with their time. Glad I brought along a Garmin GPS as I could have gotten lost on the small roads throughout the foothills between Sutter Creek and Fiddletown. We stayed with a modern day homesteader & organic farmer in Fiddletown for 2 nights. Her name was Alice and she was a great cook and conversationalist and since she grew up there and knew everyone within Amador County…she’s probably in her mid 60s now and still going strong. Our first visit was with Ann Kraemer of Yorba Wines and Shake Ridge Vineyards. She spent nearly 2 hrs with us and gave us a tour of her ~35 acres of vineyards with more in depth discussion about her viticultural practices of barbera in the foothills. She and others pick when the acid levels are tamed. Ann is one highly intelligent viticulturist and knows how to work her vineyard cultural practices to get the fruit within target levels. She clearly knows how to think out of the box when growing different varietals in the foothills. Give her wines a try and you will not be disappointed. The next day we met with the veteran farmer Dick Cooper and his winemaker Mike Roser of Cooper Vineyards. Dick is a welcoming no frills tell-it-like-it-is kind of guy with tons of grape farming experience. His grapes end up in many wines found in the foothills…same as Ann’s grapes. He takes a different approach to taming barbera’s acidity and sunburn sensitivity by using head trained vines like he does zinfandel. In some years his brix levels get over 30 while waiting for the malic acid to respire into lower acidity. Looks like the foothills area is blessed with warm days and cool/cold nights which is great for the many grape varietals they grow there but it makes barbera difficult because low T nights does not help diminish the malic acid concentrations through respiration. After visiting Cooper we tried Dillian but they were closed on Monday but did find Terre Rouge & Easton open. Nice well made wines for a facility that cranks out I think somewhere around 70K cases a year from a large number of varietals. I did like the Easton Fiddletown zinfandel which I felt was balanced and not too heavy on the fruit and alcohol. For dinner we ate at Taste in Plymouth one evening and that gave me a chance to order a half bottle of Noceto’s sangiovese which was delightful with the small plates we ordered for dinner at the bar. It was clear that locals were able to order dishes not on the bar menu at Taste. Overall I found the foothills countryside attractive, the people welcoming, possesses fantastic local history, and the wines enjoyable. Since we only had 3 days to sample the area we will definitely be back to spend more time. So I should mention that my barbera interest stems from a crazy idea of possibly growing it in the northeast. Conventional wisdom is that this is a hot/warm climate grape but the issue is not ripeness in cool climates but rather taming the acidity…our warmer nights might be able to take care of that acidity if one choses small berry clones. I’m still not convinced we can produce balanced flavors here. Thanks to all for the suggestions…Cheers, Gayr
http://www.barberafestival.com/Second annual barbera festival will be at Cooper’s on June 9. I heard it was a tough ticket last year.
Look forward to it!
Glad you got a chance to spend some time w/ Ann at Shake Ridge! She is an amazing person.
Thanks for the link. I heard from Dick that this was a fun festival. His staff is in the process of building a new outdoor area for the festival. Won’t make it this year but hope to in subsequent years…Gary