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Hey Reader—

Quick reminder: Today's the last day of fast-action pricing for the Wine Confidence course.

At 9pm PT tonight, the price goes from $149 back to $199, and your Personalized Cellar Plan bonus disappears.

Here’s what’s included:

• Six weeks of self-paced, email-based lessons on tasting with confidence, buying wine with a system, pairing with more intuition, and building a collection that fits your palate
• Guidebooks + tasting exercises to help you put everything into practice
• Lifetime access to all course materials
• Direct email access to me throughout the course for questions and wine talk
• Your Personalized Cellar Plan — a custom wine list I build around your palate (fast-action bonus only)
• 30-day guarantee: do the work and don’t feel more confident? Get every dollar back

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If you’ve been meaning to join, today’s the day. And if there’s a question I haven’t answered yet, hit reply — I’m happy to help.

Now, let’s get into this week’s Wine Digest.

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Sip Smarter: Your Weekly Wine Lesson

Barbera 101: Piedmont's Juicy, Food-Loving Red

Last week, my 2026 Barbera from the Yakima Valley went into barrel. It's one of my favorite moments in the cellar: the wine has made it through the wild ride of fermentation, and now it gets to settle in and slowly become itself.

It also had me thinking about how I fell for this grape in the first place.

The first time was back in 2019, when I was studying for my WSET certification here in Portland. Barbera was one of those grapes that just clicked for me in class. It looked kinda dark and brooding in the glass, then tasted bright, juicy, and so easy to drink.

The second time was a few summers ago, when I got to visit Piedmont with my family. We stayed in a beautiful Airbnb on a vineyard in the Asti region, and every evening ended with a bottle of local Barbera on the table. That was when I discovered how food-friendly this wine is.

So let's get into it...

Where it comes from

Barbera is from Piedmont, in northwest Italy from the hills of Monferrato. It has deep roots there: church records from Casale Monferrato dating back to the 1200s mention vineyards planted with "barbexinis" vines.

For a long time, Barbera was Piedmont's everyday wine. Nebbiolo (the grape behind Barolo and Barbaresco) got the fame, while Barbera was what people actually drank with dinner most nights.

Where it famously grows

Barbera is the most planted red grape in Piedmont. The names to know on a label:

Barbera d'Asti: The largest and most common Barbera designation. Because Nebbiolo isn't competing for the best sites here the way it does around Alba, Barbera often gets prime vineyard real estate. These wines tend to be bright, fresh, and generous.

Nizza: A small area inside the Barbera d'Asti zone that became its own DOCG in 2014. It has to be 100% Barbera with at least 18 months of aging, and it's often seen as the home of some of the richest, most serious Barbera out there.

Barbera d'Alba: Around Alba, Nebbiolo usually gets the top sites, so Barbera is often planted nearby on the next-best slopes. Barbera d'Alba can lean a bit rounder and fuller-bodied.

Barbera del Monferrato: The grape's likely birthplace. Often simpler, but very characteristic and easy to love.

Outside Italy, Italian immigrants brought Barbera to California (the Sierra Foothills especially), Argentina, and Australia. And it grows here in the Pacific Northwest too, as my Yakima Valley fruit can confirm.

Its typical profile

Barbera is a bit of a trickster. Pour a glass and it looks deep and dark, so you might brace for something big and grippy. Then you take a sip, and it's juicy, lively, and smooth.

That's because Barbera is naturally:

• High in acidity: that mouthwatering, refreshing zing
• Low in tannin: so it doesn't dry out your mouth the way a Cabernet or Nebbiolo can
• Deeply colored: dark ruby to almost purple

Typical flavors include sour cherry, dark cherry, plum, blackberry, and dried strawberry, sometimes with notes of violet, herbs, and spice.

Because Barbera has so little tannin, winemakers often use oak to give it more structure. Unoaked Barbera tends to be fresh, fruity, and zippy. Barbera aged in small French barrels can pick up vanilla, baking spice, and a rounder, richer feel. Some producers split the difference with large, neutral casks.

What it pairs with

This is where Barbera really shines. That high acidity makes it one of the most food-friendly reds out there. It cuts through richness and fat, and it can stand up to tomato sauce (which makes a lot of other reds taste flat).

My go-tos:

• Pizza night, especially with sausage or mushrooms
• Pasta with red sauce, or a ragù
• Mushroom dishes or anything earthy
• Charcuterie and salumi (and all the cheese)
• Pork with herbs like sage and rosemary
• Burgers on the grill

If you're ever stuck choosing a red for an Italian dinner, Barbera is your safe bet.

Fun facts

It may be very old. Some trace Barbera's origins back as far as the 7th century, which would make it centuries older than Cabernet Sauvignon. The paper trail is solid back to the 1200s.

It went from "everyday" to "serious." In the 1980s, Giacomo Bologna of Braida released Bricco dell'Uccellone, a barrel-aged Barbera that showed the world how age-worthy and complex this grape could be. Producers across Piedmont took notice.

It survived a scandal. In 1986, a few producers were caught illegally adding methanol to cheap wine sold as Barbera. It was a tragedy that hit Barbera's reputation hard for years, even though the grape itself had nothing to do with it. The comeback has been well-earned.

Barbera ripens earlier than Nebbiolo, often a couple of weeks ahead. Planting both lets growers spread out harvest and save the warmest slopes for late-ripening Nebbiolo, and Barbera gave them a wine to drink (and sell) while the Barolo was still aging.

The big takeaway?

If you love wines that are bright, juicy, and made for food, but don't always want the heavy tannins of a big red, Barbera belongs on your radar. Next time you're at a wine shop, try asking:

• "Do you have a Barbera d'Asti? I want something fresh and juicy for pizza night."
• "Is this Barbera oaked or unoaked?" (Unoaked = brighter and fruitier. Oaked = rounder and spicier.)
• "Do you have any Nizza?" (When you want to treat yourself.)

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Vine To Glass

Wine Of The Week: Artist Block 2025 "Original Work" Rosé

This past weekend, I took exactly one day off from harvest. And how did I spend it? Wine tasting, obviously. ;)

Tony and I headed out to the Willamette Valley with a few friends and spent the afternoon at Artist Block in the Dundee Hills.

About Artist Block

Artist Block was founded by Anna Sweet, an international pop artist whose work has shown in galleries and collections around the world. She started studying wine through WSET in 2018, worked her first Oregon harvest in 2019, and fell for the Willamette Valley as a "blank canvas." She and her husband bought a vineyard in the Dundee Hills, and Artist Block's tasting room, working art studio, and gallery opened in 2023.

The whole idea is to bring art and wine together, and to make wine feel more open and welcoming. As Anna puts it: "I'm building wine for the people the industry forgot to invite."

Behind the wines is Director of Winemaking Tracy Kendall, who has more than 20 harvests and 15+ years of Willamette Valley experience under her belt.

The wine

​The 2025 "Original Work" Rosé is mostly Pinot Noir (92%), with a splash of red blend and a touch of Gewürztraminer, from organically farmed, dry-farmed, hand-harvested Dundee Hills fruit. It's bone dry, and it's a tiny production: under 200 cases.

It's so refreshing, playful, and bright.

But the label is the real star

The label is blank. On purpose.

Each bottle comes with a little watercolor kit (eight paint colors and a water brush, hanging right from the neck of the bottle) so you can design your own label. There's even a QR code that pulls up an instrumental playlist to paint along to.

I think this is such a brilliant idea. It turns opening a bottle of wine into an experience, and it makes the people drinking the wine part of the creative process. It's interactive, it's personal, and it's a perfect example of how wine can be fun without being fussy.

What I'd Pair It With

• A paint-and-sip night with friends (obviously)
• Grilled shrimp or salmon
• A big summer-into-fall salad with stone fruit, burrata, and herbs
• Light Thai or Vietnamese dishes, like fresh spring rolls
• A cheese board with soft, creamy cheeses

Some wines are about the place, some are about the people, and the best ones make you feel like part of the story. This one does all three.

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Cork Report

This Week’s Wine News Roundup

1. ​Pinot Grigio Is Ready to Prove the Haters Wrong​
2. ​Wine Blending – Why Certain Grapes Are Blended​
3. ​20,000 bottles of rare wine worth millions remain unclaimed​​

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