Sevenhill Inigo Barbera 2022

A friend of mine recently declared, ‘how can you not love Barbera? It would be like not loving puppies’. I’ll confess I was a bit on the fence about the variety until a recent visit to Piedmont showed me how wrong I was and how good a decent Barbera can be. Local examples may not quite have got there yet, but they are well on the way. This one, from the Clare Valley, is matured in tank with a small percentage also matured in new French hogsheads. Dark crimson in colour, we have notes of dry herbs, warm earth, mushrooms, animal skins and red currants. There is good acidity running the length and bright flavours on the palate. Thanks to fine tannins and excellent length, this is a very elegantly structured Barbera, as lovable as any puppy. Drink now and for four to five years.