Comments on Viva la Wino!: Famiglia Marrone Barbera 2008

Oh shit--two more things: I forgot about the Big H...

2010-09-30T08:55:21.811-07:00

Oh shit--two more things: I forgot about the Big House Red for 3.25 a bottle in the Octavin...and then just an observation. Isn't it funny that anytime someone writes "IMHO" they aren't actually being humble? They're really being a pompous ass. It's sort of like a terrible ironic joke...

Interesting to get another point of view...Greg an...

2010-09-30T08:52:31.559-07:00

Interesting to get another point of view...Greg and I felt pretty similar about this wine. TJ's is (in)famous for being inconsistent. Maybe I got a bad bottle or something? There's a good chance of that, I think.

Anyways, part of the way that I look at things is value, and there are a lot of better Barbera's for 10$ out there, IMHO. Looking at all wine, I don't think that I would pick this one out either with stuff like the Chariot for 5$, or the Perrin Cotes du Rhone for 7$, or the 7$ Valdepenas I had recently. That's just my opinion though, and it is by no means infallible. I drink what I like...you obviously do too. And like I said, I don't think this wine is BAD per se, it's just boring and trying too hard to be all things to all people.

I randomly purchased a bottle of this wine last ye...

2010-09-30T07:42:44.145-07:00

I randomly purchased a bottle of this wine last year from TJ's, went home, opened it, drank it, and immediately (well not immediately as I am not promoting drinking and driving) went back to TJ's and purchased a case. I think this is a great wine. I've had quite a few people taste it and it's always a hit. Now, I'm no wine expert, especially of the Barbera variety, but I drink my fair share of wine, and I think this is pretty good. If you didn't know this was a Barbera (and weren't comparing it to other Barberas), would you change your mind about its like-ability?

Thanks for letting me know. I thought this was a c...

2010-02-11T12:05:45.183-08:00

Thanks for letting me know. I thought this was a confused wine. What I really don't get is why would TJ's have this wine on the shelf for Barbera? I've had a lot of Barbera that's under 10$ that delivers a whole lot more. Plus, for any neo-phyte wine drinkers out there, if they get this bottle, they're not really going to get what's cool about Barbera, and they're probably not going to be returning to it. Even if they have an "American" palate, they're going to be turned off by this wine. Like I said, stylistic no-man's land.

I had this one last weekend at a wine tasting (wel...

2010-02-11T11:49:05.076-08:00

I had this one last weekend at a wine tasting (well, more of a wine drinking). I felt exactly the same way: OK, not flawed, but nothing special. I was pleasantly surprised that it was easy to drink given it's a TJ's wine and has a generic Piedmont appellation.