Wine: Montevina Barbera

The reverse side also has a reverse side.
—Japanese Proverb

At Montevina, a rather large winery in Amador County (California), they like to tell how they make big, juicy red wines. Tasting their Zinfandels is like getting slapped with a canvas bag full of fruit. The Refosco smells like a coffee shop.

But anybody worth knowing will surprise you. I know a guy who is ill-tempered, unmannered, and as coarse as a newspaper photo or a barrel of broken rocks. I recently found out the guy has been working on yet another new translation of the Iliad. The Iliad!

Now, Montevina is neither unmannered nor coarse, but imagine my surprise to find that their 2001 Barbera, available for less than ten bucks, is an unassuming, inconspicuous wine. It is very much Italian in style: it doesn't try to shock and awe you with a carpet bombing of fruits. Pleasant scents of damp forest and playful fruit makeup the bouquet; it's impressively balanced for a wine that clocks in at 14.5% alcohol. This is a great pizza wine.

Value: 4.0
Color & Clarity: 2.5
Bouquet: 3.0
Flavor: 3.0