Barbera festival 2015

a couple laying on the terrace's chairs smiling at each other

Barbera festival 2015

This past Saturday we ventured out early to attend the Barbera Festival in Plymouth, in Amador County.

We wanted to get out early because we had to drive an hour over windy roads and because it was expected to get up to 100 degrees that day.

A little more on Barbera:

Barbera originated in the Piemonte region of northern Italy. In California, over 7,000 acres of barbera are planted. Louis Martini, produced the first varietal barbera in Napa in 1954. Today, nearly 200 California wineries produce barbera wines.

Barbera is known for its generous acid structure and low tannin levels producing a smooth wine that pairs well with food. Barbera styles range from bright flavors of tart cherry, raspberry, and spice, to riper styles evoking flavors black cherry, blueberry, blackberry, and vanilla.

 

 

The history of barbera in Amador County begins at Monteviña in 1971. This variety was one of the first “new” varieties to the County commercially planted by Cary Gott at his new winery called Monteviña. The first vintage in modern times, if not the first ever, was the 1974. There was another wine, a blend of barbera and zinfandel called Montanaro which existed for a while, this beginning with the 1975 vintage. Its name, Montanaro, “mountain man,” was to evoke the mountain character of these varieties coming from what was in those days an “unusual” viticultural area, a mountain one, with a zinfandel base. (read more about barbera in Amador county)

The festival featured more than 80 wineries from all over California — many of which are from the wine regions around Reverie.

We arrived a little before 10am and slowly worked our way around every winery to experience their best offerings and find the perfectly balanced wines that would go with our vision of food and ambiance for Reverie. Tamara and I have now done so many long days of “wine tasting” in our surrounding area that we are able to taste wine without drinking a lot of wine. Lucky for me Tamara was the designated driver of the day so I could actually drink a little more than only taste.

 

 

After a long day with great wines and some amazing food we once again came back to Reverie with many great ideas for food/wine pairings and I hope that we will be able to offer you some of our findings in the near future.

Ramon

 

 

#reverieretreat

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sign Up For Our Newsletter