Pine Ridge Forefront 2008 Willamette Valley Oregon Pinot Noir

Dark ruby color.

Rich sweet-smelling fruit, plum, prune, and dark cherry. Oak in the background.

Prune and plum flavor, a bit of an exuberant fruit-bomb. Ripe.

Good bottle for $26.99, a nice medium-to-full bodied wine, works well as company for a lunch of ham and vegetable, though my first choice would have been more restrained.

Conterno Fantino 2008 Barbera d'Alba Vignota

Another entrant in the festival of Barbera!

Very dark color

Smell of lots of fresh oak, plum and prune.

Dark stone fruits, vanilla oak, deep flavor.

Full-bodied bottle for $30.99, fuller than any of the other Barberas I've had recently. Would be better, though, with a little more restraint in the cooperage.

Boroli 2006 Barbera d'Alba Quattro Fratelli

Another entry in my festival of Barbera.

Very dark color.

Plum and prune smell.

Dark plum and prune fruit, oak with restraint, sweet fruit well-balanced with plenty of acid.

Very good bottle for $20.99, medium-bodied but a bit fuller-bodied than the examples of Barbera d'Asti I've enjoyed over the last few days.

Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben 2007 Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Spatlese

Very pale color, extremely petillant, raised a significant, if short-lived, head when poured into the glass.

Peach smell, face-first in a home-made tub of applesauce, strolling in a night-blooming garden.

Sweet peach nectar, sweet farmstand apple cider, remains quite petillant on the tongue.

Right now this is a damned expensive bottle for $36.99, I foresee it calming, drying, and developing a strangely attractive petrochemical smell in five years or so. Time, I've learned, is Riesling's friend.

Montecalvi 2007 Chianti Classico

Very dark color.

Tarry smell, tobacco, plum, mineral, and smoke.

Dark plum and cherry fruit, mineral, good food-friendly acid.

Fine bottle for $26.99, darker-seeming that the barbera I've been enjoying recently, but better-suited to match a fuller-flavored meal, though it matched well with a spaghetti & meatball lunch.

Coppo 2006 Barbera d'Asti Camp du Rouss

A fresh entry in the festival of Barbera, a celebration of one of my favorite general-purpose reds.

Near-opaque wine, violet at the edges.

Cherry and plum smell, leather and basil, evidence of some young oak which doesn't intrude.

Cherry and plum fruit flavors, bright with Barbera-typical acidity.

A fine medium-bodied bottle for $19.99, suitable for a lighter lunch or dinner.

Icardi 2008 Barbera d'Asti Tabaren

Dark clear ruby color.

Black cherry smell, oak, wet leather.

Plum and black cherry fruit flavors, new oak spice, vibrant with tart acid.

Good food-friendly medium-weight bottle of wine for $15.99.

More and more, I find Barbera an unfussy accompaniment to a simple dinner. Tonight I declare the festival of Barbera!