Cinderella Wine Nails Barbaresco Deal

Okay, this is too coincidental to be true. As I've mentioned previously, we've been on the look-out for a Barbaresco case club deal. The tough thing with Barbaresco: It's not an affordable category. On one hand it's a tough wine to dabble in, on the other it makes it all the more necessary to combine purchasing power.

That said, there's a limit to how much a case discount can reduce the price of a wine. By law, Massachusetts retailers aren't allowed to sell wine for cheaper than they buy it for. However, close-outs sometimes enable retailers to offer wine at seemingly impossible prices.

I'm not sure how Cinderella Wine does it (witness this deal on Ridge Lytton Springs just a couple weeks ago) but when they mentioned they were featuring a 2004 Barbaresco I was wondering who the producer was. Lo and behold it was the exact wine I tried at a couple of tastings recently that made me reconsider whether opting out of Italian wine as a category was a good idea.

When Italian wine disappoints me it's because it's thin, limited aromatically, lacking in flavor, and austere. It apologizes for this by claiming it needs to be paired with food in order to be enjoyed. I'm not buying it. Bad wine doesn't become good when paired with food.

This wine, on the other hand, bucks the trend of these disappointing values. It's full of unique, complex aromas of red berries, leather, and spice. It's got a savory component on the palate that I love, and while it's true to its Italian roots with ample acidity, it doesn't whine about needing to be paired with food.

Related:

• Gaja tasting offers opportunity to taste benchmark Barbareschi
• Autard Chateauneuf deal