About Barbera wine

October 4, 2010

Philippines Wine Shop Clark Wine Center is pleased to share with you articles, news and information about wine, wine events, wine tasting and other topics related to wine and the appreciation of wine.

Barbera

Barbera is an ancient variety with its historical roots in Italy, where today it remains the second most widely planted red variety, after Sangiovese.

The highest quality Barberas come from the Piedmont region, where fifteen times more acreage is devoted to it than to Nebbiolo. Barbera d’Asti and Barbera del Monferrato each produce about three times as much wine as Barbera d’Alba. Colli Toronesi is produced in such small quantities it is rarely found outside its own region. Barbera is also produced in Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Sardinia. Barbera is also grown in Slovenia and is the fifth most widely planted variety in California.

Barbera vines are popular with growers, vigorous and reliably productive in a wide variety of soils and also highly resistant to fungal diseases. The fruit is naturally high in acid, which it retains very well, even in hot climates. Barbera grapes are also high in anthocyanins, but only low to moderate in tannin content. The resulting wines are deep, purplish black in their youth, but tend to early browning and lightening as they age. Tannin from oak aging can help somewhat to stabilize color.

Although normally indistinct in aroma, when cultivated in temperate areas and cropped for quality, Barbera can exhibit an attractive ripe aroma of red fruit, currants or blackberries that can be enhanced by vanilla, smoky or toasty notes added by barrel aging. On the other hand, neutral aroma, high color and acidity are all good characteristics for blending with other grapes and this is how Barbera is most frequently used.

Most California Barbera is grown in the Central Valley and finds its way into generic or proprietary blends. The Sierra Foothills, Paso Robles, Santa Clara and Sonoma, where very warm days are moderated by cool nights, produce some of the state’s best varietal Barberas.

Source: http://www.winepros.org/wine101/grape_profiles/barbera.htm

Clark Wine Center was built in 2003 by Hong Kong-based Yats International Leisure Philippines to become the largest wine shop in Philippines supplying Asia’s wine lovers with fine vintage wines at attractive prices.  Today, this wine shop in Clark Philippines offers over 2000 selections of fine wines from all major wine regions in the world.  As a leading wine supplier in Philippines, Pampanga’s Clark Wine Center offers an incomparable breadth of vintages, wines from back vintages spanning over 50 years.  Clark Wine Center is located in Pampanga Clark Freeport Zone adjacent to Angeles City, just 25 minutes from Subic and 45 minutes from Manila.

Wines from Burgundy, Bordeaux, Rhone, Loire, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Alsace, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, South Africa, Chile and Argentina etc. are well represented in this Clark Wine Shop.

For more information, email Wine@Yats-International.com or visit http://www.ClarkWineCenter.com