Oeno Files

We have been members of the i Prestoni Wine Club at Preston Vineyards for almost seven years. Preston is in the very northern part of the Dry Creek Valley in California's Sonoma County; basically you drive as far north as you can on the west side of Dry Creek, then hang a right and drive another mile through rocky vineyards along the creekbed to get to the winery. Preston makes bread and olive oil in addition to wine, and they are an organic winery on their way to becoming fully biodynamic. They are fun and interesting folks who take wine seriously but don't take themselves seriously. We love their simple, elegant approach to winemaking, and their focus on Rhone and northern Italian varietals.

Tonight we had a 2004 Barbera. Barbera can be intense and dark, but in this case it's a somewhat lighter and smaller wine than the varietal is capable of. But it's a well-balanced wine, with a nice balance of fruit, acid, and ripe tannins. The fruit has a tartness to it, reminiscent of raspberries and currents and a bit of cherry. The acid means that the wine accompanies food well. It has an earthiness from the local terroir that is also quite nice.

The Barbera retails for $26 (although we pay a discounted price as wine club members); I'd give it a B+/88-89 points.

One of the bottles from our cellar, the Preston Vineyards 1999 Barbera. Here are the varietal notes for the 2004 release.

The color is purple with a slight brown twinge, as you might expect for an 8-year-old wine. The nose is black pepper, earth, tart currant, and a little bit of green pepper. Not a lot of tannins.

In the mouth the wine had a big foretaste and almost nothing at the back of the mouth. In the middle there was a lot of acid, which balanced the wine and made it work well with food. Interestingly, broccoli brought out more fruit in the taste.

Barbera tends to be a thin wine, and when young it can be quite tannic (especially Barbera d'Alba from Italy). Given that, this is a nicely-balanced wine that has aged well. Preston typically recommends 10 years as the aging potential of their barberas, so drinking this one at 8 years was a good choice.