Marchesi di Gresy Barbera d’Asti (Piedmont, Italy), 2004 ($16, Dalla Terra): For a few months now, I have had the impression that the wine gods have been sending me messages about Marchesi di Gresy.
Wines from this producer seem to be constantly crossing my consciousness quite by chance: a terrific 2001 Barbaresco from the Martinenga vineyard that someone handed me a glass of, unidentified, at a trade tasting, for example, or an exceptionally good 1999 Barbaresco from the Gaiun vineyard that someone brought to a BYO dinner recently.
Therefore, when I blind-tasted 14 Barberas last week, having no idea which brands were part of the tasting, and my favorite was this wine from Marchesi di Gresy, I felt compelled to write about it.
Actually, I had even forgotten that di Gresy makes Barbera d’Asti. The most renowned vineyards of this elite winery are in Barbaresco, a village and wine zone close to the town of Alba, and Alba has its own Barbera (Barbera d’Alba). This wine instead is from the Asti area, about 30 minutes distant.
Once upon a time, no self-respecting Albese — as the people of Alba are called — would make an Asti Barbera. But in recent years, winemakers from Alba have begun to grow Barbera in the Asti zone, recognizing that it is different from Alba Barbera but not inferior to it. Generally speaking, Alba Barberas are somewhat fuller and rounder, with darker fruit flavors, while Asti Barberas are edgier and brighter in fruitiness, unless the grapes come from very old vines.
Barbera itself is a fascinating red grape, very high in acid but low in tannin. Barbera wines vary, of course, depending on their yields, ripeness levels and winemaking; they can be fresh, almost crisp red wines with red fruit flavors or they can be richly-textured, soft, smooth wines with some oak tannin along with a certain depth and freshness that only Barbera brings. They go with just about any food that you pair with them.
In the blind tasting I recently did, I concluded that the best Barberas are those that show Barbera’s natural vibrancy of aroma and flavor and yet also have at least some substance in the mouth. The 2004 Marchesi di Gresy Barbera does just that. In aroma, it shows raspberry, black cherry and wild strawberry notes that penetrate your nose with their freshness, despite their obvious ripeness. In the mouth, the wine is medium-plus bodied — hardly any Barbera is ever full-bodied — and silky-smooth on the fore palate (thanks probably to its 13.5 percent alcohol).
Yet it has a zesty edginess and lift of both high acid and a small amount of fine tannin on the rear. It has good concentration of flavor, and the depth and long length for which Barbera is famous.
I could drink this wine every day for a month and probably not tire of it. It is complex enough to hold my interest, definitely high in quality, and as refreshing as I could want a red wine to be. Chicken fillets, turkey burgers, pasta with tomato sauce, bean soups, pizza, Caesar salad – they all work.
90 points