GIACOMO GRIMALDI BARBERA PISTIN 2015
If you are already sensing a recurring theme in a majority of our writings this year, we fully admit we have an agenda. That agenda isn’t necessarily oriented toward selling some sort of program that we have created. We haven’t created anything, merely observed. The observation is that, in the many years we have been doing this, we have a hard time recalling any vintage that has been juicier and more appealing out of the gate than 2015. France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Germany, everyone is rolling out remarkable juice.
Giacomo Grimaldi’s Barbera Pistin 2015 is simply another tool we can use to prove our point. We have sold Grimaldi’s wine off and on over the years. If this were baseball, you’d call Grimaldi a solid player with a good average that occasionally gets the big hit. This Barbera, surely thanks in part to the vintage, is the ‘home run’. You couldn’t ask for more out of a modestly priced Barbera.
The wine is packed with fruit, with an unusual density for the genre and price point. What is more unique is that this Barbera shows not only the typical deep red fruits of the varietal, but as it opens starts to show boysenberry and blackberry tones as well, the hallmarks of a perfectly ripened crop. There’s bright acidity that is well tucked-in underneath so it is sensed only in a supporting role, spice notes laced throughout, and just a hint of the classic ‘almond skin’ to the finish. Bring on the pasta, a steak, or whatever you want as this wine’s gregarious fruit will take on all comers and definitely perform in a much broader role than just a foil for Italian food.
The hard part of 2015 with wines like this, after two not particularly stellar vintages for Barbera and Dolcetto (2013, 2014), will be showing some restraint. There are going to be many beautiful efforts. But this one hits the high notes and is definitely a poster child for exactly what we are talking about…plenty of accessible, gregarious, engaging fruit. . .$19.98