We’ve frequently bemoaned the bad tasting experience at Barboursville Vineyards, most recently when talked about my experience tasting there with some friends this summer. Putting that aside, however, there are some nice wines to be found there. After some positive experiences tasting a smaller number of their wines away from the tasting room, we’ve tried very hard to look beyond the tasting experience to focus on the wines itself.
This has led me to develop my “find my happy place and focus on a small handful of the wines” when visiting the tasting room. On one such visit, I chose to attend closely to the wines made from Italian grapes, and a bottle of the 2007 barbera reserve made it home with us. A few weeks ago, we celebrated my 36th birthday, and GEG made us some mushroom and goat cheese quesadillas. I headed our wine spreadsheet looking for something that would add a hint of celebration to a fairly quiet birthday (we had plans during the weekend), and this bottle of barbera seemed like just what we needed.
I can’t say that this was a winner of a food pairing – it was fine if nothing special – but the wine was a big hit. I got a dark cooked plum nose and plums, dark berries, and some oak on the palate. I appreciated the tiny hint of earthiness that helped temper all the fruit flavors. To be honest, this wine could have aged for longer on our shelf, but we have little experience with this wine, and it still drank very well.
Experiences like this one are what keep us revisiting Barboursville once a year or so. There are really nice wines that can be discovered and subsequently enjoyed in a less frenetic environment. I’m really glad I managed to find my happy place.
The Burgandy Swirls Define New Barbera Pole, Beauticians Lobby Appalled by Swirl, Sip, Snark, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Their Barbera has been a good wine for me, too. The tasting room experience, not so good for the most part. They have lovely grounds and if the weather is nice, a glass or a bottle enjoyed out on the patio or at the ruins can override the bummer experience in the crowded, ill-managed tasting room.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY VWD!!!
Mel – thanks for the birthday wishes. As for hanging out at Barboursville, without fail, we always end up there on days with crappy weather, so we’ve never been able to take advantage of the grounds.