2012 Silvestri, Barbera, Carmel Valley.
Alan Silvestri, famous award winning composer who has scored many movies and recently was nominated for another Emmy for his music in Cosmos, owns this small estate deep in Carmel Valley. I remember when he started out there and it was great to catch up on his wines, which are all estate offerings now, with Syrah his main love, but I discovered the Silvestri Barbera this time around, it is the first release for this varietal, and it is absolutely delicious. The 2012 Estate Barbera is lush, vibrant and succulent with a dark ruby, blue hue in the glass leading to a stylish and fruity palate, and while not very similar to it’s Piedmont cuisine, it shows very nice open fruit with black raspberry, loganberry, raspberry and plum along with zesty acidity and sweet herbs and chalky stones. There is very subtle wood/cedar notes and a hint of licorice and a lingering strawberry essence on the finish, this is a fine inaugural effort with this Italian grape, drink over the new few years, best from 2014 to 2017, this was fun stuff, available at the Silvestri tasting room in Carmel by the Sea.
($27 Est.) 91 Points, grapelive
