Vintjs - 2012 Paso Robles barbera (United States)

Today's post is another "Dinner and a Movie" post, where I make a nice dinner from scratch and pair a wine with it. One meal that's always a home run with me is chicken alfredo. It's a delicious, heavy meal that pairs well with certain wines and is appropriate for all seasons. It's also approachable enough that most people enjoy it. I'll be making that tonight, and pairing it with a 2012-vintage Vintjs Barbera from Paso Robles, California. Vintjs is actually one Trader Joe's secretive house labels; and as such, when I reached out to them about specific information for the wine, they would not comment.

The Barbera grape originated in north-west Italian region of Piedmont. The wines, called "Piemonte" after the region, are chiefly made of Dolcetto, Moscato, Barbera and Niebbolo grapes. According to wine expert Jancis Robinson, Barbera was a run-of-the-mill Piedmont vintage for a long time until Braida Estate's Giacomo Bologna introduced the fine Bricco dell'Uccellone onto the worldwine viticultural scene. Now, Barbera is produced in quantity in Australia, South America, and the United States (with the lion's share still produced in Italy.) Robinson's excellent article on Barbera can be found here.

Robinson does not, however, really acknowledge the California Central Valley as a star producer of Barbera, which happens to be from where this particular vintage hails. We'll have to find out for ourselves!

So, as I usually do, I pop the bottle in the fridge for a few minutes to bring it down to "cellar temp." In terms of food, I'm going to prepare a chicken saute with mushrooms and julienne'd bell peppers, in a homemade alfredo sauce.

The key to this dinner is the sauce. I make the sauce by muddling some basil in a mixing bowl, then adding it to some heavy cream. While that's heating to a boil, heat some water for your pasta and saute some mushrooms...

...and after simmering the heavy cream, it's time to add the secret ingredient: herbed goat cheese. The delicate flavors and creamy texture makes it an interesting divergence from the usual hard-rind Italian cheeses like Parmesan or Reggiano.

As the mushrooms finish, and I set them aside, I start the chicken in the pan and add the pasta to the boiling salted water.

I like the bright red color the wine has when candled. Sitting out in the glass, it throws an aroma of dark berries and leather - a great scent. I let it sit for a couple of minutes, to open up, while I'm wrapping up plating the pasta (and cracking some black pepper on it!) Aww yeah, look at that:

Now it's time to dig in and try the wine. My first impressions are very positive - the wine is very smooth, with no tannic bite. The aroma of dark fruits translate into a deep, lush taste of red fruit in the body of the wine. There's a much more muted cassin / blackberry taste, mostly on the finish. There's a sliiight metallic aftertaste, but nothing really objectionable.

I'm curious to see how this would compare to an Italian Barbera, given the climate differential (California's Central Valley is classified as a "hot Mediterranean climate" whereas the Piedmont regions are cooler, although the Barbera grapes are usually planted on the warmer areas of the Piedmont.)

I'm once again impressed by Trader Joe's selection of (very) affordable wine. No place beats TJ's when you can get great, drinkable wine for cheap. I do encourage you all to investigate this wine, a bottle of which will cost you the trivial sum of $8.99.