La Nunsio 2004 Barbera d'Asti

I aerated this vigorously after opening. In a subsequent bottle some days later, not aerated, there was considerable petillance on the tongue. A third bottle, the next day, taught me that vigorous aeration can drive off petillance, a virtue I hadn't appreciated before.

Medium garnet color, seems a bit cloudy. With subsequent bottles I came to recognize this cloudiness as an attribute of the petillance.

Smell of plum, cherry, and oak.

Rich stone fruit and vanilla oak flavors, hint of menthol.

Not the finest Barbera I've recently enjoyed, but, still, a good buy for $11.50. The petillance, in a 5-year-old wine, gives me some second thoughts. It is a flaw in red wine (and not generally a virtue in white) but one the consumer can fix for free with some trivial effort.