I've previously looked at Zinfandel and Syrah from Amador County's Lang Wines. Both of those proved to be excellent examples of the varietal and good values to boot. Today I'll look at their Barbera. This varietal is of course a native of Italy. More recently it's been showing up in California with mixed results.
The 2006 Lang Wines Barbera was sourced from Amador County. The wine was aged in Hungarian Oak. The production of this wine was limited and it sells through their website for $216 per case which works out to $18 per bottle.
I found this wine to be a bit closed up at first and I would definitely recommend decanting this selection for 1-2 hours if you're drinking it in the short term. Once it had opened up both the nose and the palate are loaded with a ton of dark fruit, particularly black cherry, which is prominent throughout. Those characteristics are joined by a fair amount of pepper, nutmeg and other more subtle spice notes such as vanilla. All of these come into play in the finish along with light mineral notes and a hint of black tea. Firm tannins and good acidity provide the framework for this wine.
What I like best about this wine is that it's undeniably built to pair up with food. Aged cheeses would work perfectly. For $18 a bottle this is a fine example of what can be achieved with Barbera in California.
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