For the epilogue of our “Barbera Trilogy” series, I am going to readapt here my review of the Pomorosso that I published a while ago.
The Bottom Line
Overall, I found Coppo, Barbera d’Asti “Pomorosso” 2006 DOCG ($60) to be one of the best Barbera’s that I have had so far, a wine that is a pleasure to drink and savor sip after sip – a perfect companion for a red meat dinner.
Rating: Outstanding and definitely Recommended 
– $$$
(Explanation of our Rating and Pricing Systems)
About the Grape and the Appellations
You may find all relevat information regarding Barbera as a grape variety and the four appellations in Piemonte where Barbera is the main grape variety on the “Barbera” entry of our Grape Variety Archive.
About the Producer and the Estate
You may find information regarding the producer, Coppo, and the estate in the first post of this series of reviews of the Coppo lineup.
Our Detailed Review
The wine that we are going to review today is Coppo, Barbera d’Asti “Pomorosso” 2006 DOCG.
The Pomorosso is the flagship varietal Barbera in the Coppo offering (which, as we have seen in previous posts, includes two less structured, less expensive alternatives: L’Avvocata and Camp du Rouss).
It is definitely a complex Barbera: it is made out of 100% Barbera grapes grown in selected vineyards of the 56 HA Coppo estate located in the surroundings of the town of Canelli, near Asti (Piemonte). The Pomorosso 2006 had 13.5% ABV, was fermented and macerated in stainless steel vats for 12 days at 28-30C/82-86F, went through full malolactic fermentation and aged for 14 months in all new French oak barrique casks. In the U.S. it has a suggested retail price of $70, but its street price is generally around $55-60.
Let me say outright that the Pomorosso is a great, structured red wine, that is suitable for several years of aging (the 2006 vintage that I had was a symphony of aromas, flavors and balance). But let’s now move on to the technical wine tasting.
As usual, I will use a simplified version of the ISA wine tasting protocol that we described in a previous post: should you have doubts as to any of the terms used below please refer to that post for a refresher.
In the glass, the 2006 Pomorosso poured ruby red and viscous.
On the nose, its bouquet was intense, complex and fine with a sequence of aromas of violet, plums, blueberries, cherries, tobacco and chocolate.
In the mouth, the Pomorosso was dry, with high ABV and smooth; it was acidic, tannic and tasty. It was a full-bodied, perfectly balanced wine and its mouth flavors were intense and fine, showing good correlation with its bouquet as well as a perfect integration of the oaky notes released by its barrique aging. Its tannins, although very discernible, were also equally gentle and supple, with their delicate astringency counterbalancing the wine’s lively acidity. The Pomorosso had a long finish, with its flavors pleasantly lingering in the mouth for a very long time. Its evolutionary state in my view was mature, meaning that, with 7 years of aging under its belt, it was at or approaching its peak in terms of quality, making me think that additional aging, while certainly possible, would not likely improve its quality any further.
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This wine sounds delicious Stefano. I’ve never tried a Barbera but I definitely want to! You know, reading this article makes me want to learn more about the evolutionary states of different wines. My husband and I have a couple of bottles of red that we’ve kept for a few years… I have no idea when they’re going to ‘peak’ in terms of flavour and quality! Hm. I need to do some research 🙂 Thanks for another wonderful review.
Thank you, Laura: I think the Pomorosso makes for a special Barbera, one worth trying out if you come across a bottle. As to evolutionary states and cellaring of wines, it is an interesting and debatable subject 🙂 When I have time I may write a post about it, but it is not going to be soon as I have a few projects “cooking” that have priority…
Saving the best wine until last! As always Stefano, a very professional review of what sounds like an excellent example of Barbera d’Asti. 😉
Thank you very much: I guess I like climax better than… anticlimax! 😉 😉 😉 Thanks again for your very kind words, dear B.
Wow, Stefano! You’ve saved the best for last. This would make a wonderful wine for a celebratory dinner, one in which you want everything served to be something special. Thanks for putting this trilogy together for us. I, for one, found it enlightening and helpful.
Thank you very much, John: much appreciated 🙂
Totally unrelated to this post, but I have a question for you. I’m designing a menu for an upcoming post — grilled Salmon steaks with a citrus-y spice rub (salt, pepper & herb–the store calls it “key west”); black bean and corn salad with sweet peppers and cilantro; and summer squash. What type of wine would you serve with that (I’m looking for a style, or something widely available, as this is an itinerary for travelers and I’m telling them to stop at the local wine shop to pick up a bottle, then stop at the market to pick up the fish and deli-made salad & veggie, then take it back to their waterfront B&B which has a grill to use).
I’ll credit you “my favorite sommelier” for the suggestion and link to your blog. 🙂
Hi Tracy! First off, apologies if it took me so long to respond – I have been traveling and very busy at work.
I’d love to help out with your project and the wine pairing. Thank you for the great description of the ingredients – there’s quite a bit going on there.
Let’s quickly see the main characteristics of your dish and the features we need in the wine to pair, then I will give you a few suggestions.
The main characteristics of your dish are latent sweetness, fatness, latent bitterness, latent sourness, spiciness, flavor and medium structure – this calls for a wine that has good acidity, effervescence or minerality, smoothness, intensity of flavors and a corresponding medium body.
On this basis, my favorite pairing would be with a Classic Method sparkler – preferably a Blanc de Noirs (from a French Champagne or Italian Franciacorta or top California Classic Method sparkler on the high end of the range to a more budget-friendly U.S. Classic Method sparkler such as the IMO very good Gruet Blanc de Noirs or a Spanish Cava on the lower end of the range).
Other non-sparkling options would be a Sauvignon Blanc or a Chardonnay with some structure, and therefore preferably one that has done some oak aging – the splendid Marisa Cuomo Fiorduva or Donnafugata Chiarandà that I both reviewed on this blog would be ideal (if somewhat pricey) candidates. For a budget-friendly solution even a wine such as Marchesi de’ Frescobaldi Vermentino Ammiraglia (also reviewed on this blog) would do well with your dish.
Hope this helps! 🙂
Wonderful–and plenty in time. I’m not publishing that post until the end of September–so I still have lots of time to write it.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
You are very welcome! 🙂 Glad to hear my answer did not come in too late.
Hi Stefano,
Your reviews do raise the expectations about many of the wines. In that sense you are doing a great service to an industry which, in spite of its huge creative and production base, seems to be stagnating.
Great stuff!
Shakti
Thank you very much for stopping by and for your kind comment, Shakti!