Year after year Steve Tylicki sent famed Lake County winemaker Jed Steele a bottle of Barbera as a Christmas present.
“It’s one of my favorites,” the Steele Wines viticulturist said. “I thought it was just the kind of wine Jed could work with.”
This went on for some time. The holidays would arrive, followed by the delivery of a box containing Barbera, a different label each year. Finally, Steele caved in. He proposed a bargain, asking if a Barbera hit the market under a Steele label, would Tylicki just please send something else?
Not that Steele opposed the varietal. Barbera is a favorite daily wine in Italy and pairs well with acidic foods, like tomato sauces. But American audiences have been slow to come around. Rarely, if ever, has a sommelier heard a request for the restaurant’s Barbera list.
It’s a perplexing wine, really — rich and red, yet also saucy and bright. It’s a varietal that shows effusive flavors at an early age.
Tylicki expects persistence to pay off.
“Barbera is such a food friendly wine, it will become popular,” he said.
It helps that Steele Wines’ 2013 Shooting Star Barbera earned Best of Class from judges at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.
On the nose, the wine expresses its fruit. Aromas of aging strawberry, ripening plum and sharp cherry cascade, drawing you into the wine. Under this aria, a low and rhythmic hum emerges in support — a little bitter and a little droll, like drying desert grasses.
Crisp fruits enliven the palate, too. A tray of sliced strawberries and cherries is joined by darker berries. On the edges, a citric bite clips the finish, making for a bright finish. In between, a low earthy rumble and surprising spicy bite add interest.
Tylicki credits terroir for the prickly spice.
“It’s from a very good vineyard — well drained soil — and we get the grapes ripe,” he said.
The grapes were picked at just over 25 brix and showed “huge amounts” of acidity, lending the finished product a summery feel. The team at Steele fermented in small lots and rested the wine in old wood — American and Hungarian — to give the Barbera an opportunity to speak its mind.
“Each step of the way we try to do everything as well as it can be done,” Tylicki explained.
Clearly the persistence pays off. The 2013 Shooting Star Barbera is a pleasant wine, one that you want to have around. And once opened, it’s one that you can’t help but bring to your lips.
There’s no reason to want something else.
Dave Faries can be reached at 900-2016
