We've made Barbera from Al Tollini's grapes for seven vintages. These Gold Medal-winning wines have consistently won accolades in the press and we make no secret in our newsletters of where the grapes are grown. We like to share the wines' honors with the grape growers which means we sometimes inadvertently spark competition from other wineries who want to purchase grapes we've touted. Al, like us, had overestimated his crop in 2019 and as a consequence, after others had picked, we only received a third of what we had hoped to purchase.
Both Barbera and Mourvèdre were aged 10 months in seasoned French oak barrels.
Dan and Owen punching down; ![[below]](/images/buttons/arrow_down.gif)
Navarro's take on the centuries-old tradition of pigeage. Barbera and Mourvèdre were both fermented by hand in these three-quarter-ton bins.
We are disappointed that we have little 2019 Barbera to offer our fans. We fermented the must as we do Pinot Noir in small three-quarter-ton bins and punched down by hand twice daily to keep the tannins soft. As we have in prior vintages, we blended in about 12% Zinfandel to incorporate Zin's wild blackberry flavors into Barbera's plum and red cherry flavors.
Gold Medal winner.
