Barbera

This variety comes originally from North Italy but is very much at home in Broke Fordwich. The wine is generally a medium bodied red in an easy drinking style that doesn't really require much cellaring. 

The first harvest at Mount Broke was in 2001 and proved to be a difficult vintage. This is a thin skinned variety and is quite susceptible to rain causing the berries to swell and the bunches to burst so we have had to find new ways to prune and manage the vineyard.

2002 was the vintage that gave us a great deal of confidence that this was the way to go - a classical Italian style that rapidly became a huge success.

The drought years of 2003, 2004 & 2005 all proved to be difficult for us: we needed to hand-pick the best bunches and to avoid damaged bunches as Barbera doesn't like extremes of heat - although the 2004 did pick up a Gold & Trophy at the Boutique Wine Show. This proved that yes it is possible to make outstanding wine from Barbera, but it won't come naturally - you have to work at it.

These difficult years were followed by one when we seems to get it right - 2006. We still have the 2006 available for sale and this is much more like the classical Italian style of medium bodied, easy drinking red that all the family enjoys over a four-hour lunch.

The 2007 is a slight departure in style, being bigger and richer than the 2006. For this we did the rather unusual practice of bleeding off excess juice from the picking bins, and again selecting only the best bunches. Quite a lot of additional work was required, but we are really pleased with the outcome - a silver and two bronze medals from only three shows proves that this really is the goods.

2008 was not picked as the fruit was significantly damaged by the weather and we had no hope of making a wine we would have been happy with.

2009 is freshly bottled and is much more like the 2006 is style - savoury rather than fruity. This is due to be release over winter 2011.

2010 is still in wood and shows great promise after we instigated a different pruning and trellising regime to reduce the bunches pressing on each other. This reduces the amount of fruit per acre but should also reduce the pressure in hot seasons.

2011 was harvested in March 2011 and looks the the goods. Every bit as good as the 2007 as we had thinned out the shoots during the season to reduce the amount of fruit, forcing more flavour into what was left.

Food Match: antipasto plate of salami, cheese, crusty bread, olives, grilled zucchini, olive oil. Anything light and tasty.