INSIDER'S PICK: 2018 CANTINA DEL PINO BARBERA d'ASTI-$21.99 2017 CANTINA DEL PINO BARBERA d'ALBA-$27.99

 Even though we will not be doing the public tasting portion of the Insider's Pick until further notice, we will still be offering the wine for purchase with the usual 10% discount. The wines will still be ones we highly recommend, and the tasting notes will still be our own. We are also doing both a white and a red option each week, with the white wine available for the discount on Thursday and Friday, while the red wine available on Friday and Saturday. We hope you are able to come by and get some wines to enjoy.

A thousand pardons for not getting the second Insider's Pick out last Friday as promised. To make up for it we have a 'double feature', two wines from the same producer that can both be had for the Insider's Pick discount. Get one or the other, or maybe both if you like to compare and contrast similar wines. This winery is a long time favorite of ours, and find both of these Barberas to be top quality representatives of the regions they are from. Even though they are adjacent to each other in the Piedmont, Alba and Asti have vastly different reputations, and the wines translate those differences. Asti tends to be brighter and fresher in character, usually made in a broader everyday style as it is the most heavily planted red in it's region. Alba contains the famous regions of Barolo and Barbaresco, so Barbera often competes with plantings of Nebbiolo. In alba the soils tend to make a lighter wine, but there is a higher potential at the top end for very high achieving wines, especially when they are planted alongside Nebbiolo in some of the best vineyards like this one. Both of these are very 'serious' versions with minimal filtration and a touch of oak aging, though the Alba definitely carries a darker fruit character and has the structure to age and evolve a bit longer. Either one on their own is a show-stopper, but if you have the opportunity to pour two bottles in an evening, why not have a Barbera showdown?  

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