MCF Rare Wine
An Unbelievable Barbaresco Value...Seriously...
A little insight into the mind of a wine buyer.
Over time, you learn that sometimes you need to question yourself...keep your in-the-moment enthusiasm for a given wine in check.
Is the reason this wine tastes so good because something's off with me?
Was it because the wines I tasted just before (or with your previous appointment? or yesterday?) were so forgettable that they've made this wine, that's actually just OK, taste like something really special?
In other words, when you taste something this good, for this price, you don't always believe your own palate.
That was the case with this Barbaresco from Ca del Baio. The first time I tasted this fantastic Barbaresco Autinbej 2015, I thought 'Man that's really good for $27...', but I tempered my reaction because it was so inexpensive, that I wondered through the scenarios (and others) listed above. Knowing that I'd probably get a chance to taste it again, I decided to wait.
The next time I tasted it, it was the only wine on the counter, and, despite me being as analytical as possible, it was really good again.
Finally my rep came by with it one more time and, upon experiencing it's bright, flowery, how-can-it-be-this-good-ness for a third time, I gave in and I finally said audibly, 'Man that's good...'
But, by that time, it'd already become July which means a) people don't really want to drink Barbaresco and b) people aren't reading the newsletter, so to write this one up and send it when it would get lost just didn't make sense.
So, you see, just as names and labels can make you artificially elevate mediocre wines, it can also work the opposite way - where you unfairly punish (or in this case, don't automatically celebrate) a wine because it's one you've never heard of, or it seems just too damned good to be for real.
But, that's the way it goes sometimes...and I'm happy (in this case, really happy) to admit it to all of you!
ADDITION: Since I first wrote this offer, I also tasted Ca'del Baio's fabulously good Barbaresco Asili

from 2015. And, while I may have wavered on the Autinbej, there was no question as to the legitimacy of this lovely glass of roses.
It's got all the structure you might expect from a 2015, but it's really a wine of finesse and joy. The bright red, highly aromatic fruits are lively and broad and seamless from the beautiful, polychromatic start to the impressively muscular finish.
It's an Asili through and through, is more-than-worthy of a spot in your cellar.
So...Barbaresco...
Matt Franco
MCF Rare Wine, Ltd
249 West 13th Street NYC 10011
212.255.8870
Subscribe to our newsletter and always be the first to hear about what is happening.
© 2024 MCF Rare Wine.