Barbera is a variety common to the Northern parts of Italy. It makes wines of good colour and flavour worthy of aging. The fruit for the La Porchetta (roast pork) comes from the same miserable vineyard in Mudgee as the Sangiovese. Similarly, juice was drained off the ferment to concentrate natural colour and tannin. The wine finished ferment in newer Hungarian and American barriques and puncheons and stayed in there for 12 months prior to blending and bottling.

This is a nice wine, more typical of what Australians are used to drinking than Sangiovese. The nose is a combination of coconut, berries and tomato leaves while the palate is medium bodied with mouth coating fine tannins. It should develop well for at least 5 years and then time will tell.