13/07/2021
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Hunter Valley producer Margan Wines was the first in the region to adopt the variety into its own vineyard in Broke Fordwich at its Ceres Hill property.
Margan Wines has just completed its 20th vintage with Barbera, having first planted the variety in 1998 using cuttings taken from the original Montrose Mudgee vineyard planted by Carlo Corino back in the 1950s.
Andrew Margan (pictured), owner and chief winemaker of Margan Wines in the Hunter, says the variety takes some time to acclimatise to Australian conditions, in his experience.
“As a young vine, it used to defoliate with extreme heat conditions,” he said, “However, as it has aged, it is now appearing to cope much better”.
He says Barbera is generally quite disease resistant and “our clone tends to distribute fruit so that bunches don’t sit one on top of the other, and the berries are quite loose”, making bunch rot rare.
“It doesn’t seem to mind wet weather and continues to ripen under waterlogged conditions.”
Margan has worked with Barbera across the Hunter Valley, Mudgee, Orange, the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. He says that, in Australia, the variety isn’t necessarily suited to one particular region over another, but that each region shows its character in the wines produced.
However, he says the characteristics the Hunter Valley brings out in the variety are quite unique.
“[There’s] no such thing as a ‘best’ region for me,” he said, “[Each region’s Barbera] is different and represents the individual regions’ particular growing characteristics. I have good and bad grapes from all the areas I worked with it.”
Margan says his Barbera block (planted in Broke Fordwich) is managed using VSP with permanent mid row sward and is managed using an undervine cultivation machine.
Margan spur prunes his Barbera to 16-20 buds per arm, however he is currently in the process of cutting the vines back to canes.
In the winery
Barbera is naturally acidic and high in tannin levels, but if managed correctly in the winery, can produce bright and fresh wine to pair with delectable Italian cuisine.
In the 1970s, a French oenologist – Emile Peynaud – recommended Barbera producers use small oak barrels for fermentation and maturation (Italian Wine Connection 2017).
This was suggested in order to add a subtle oaky characteristic to the wine, which allowed limited levels of oxygenation to occur through maturation, letting the single varietal wine soften that way. Peynaud discovered that the polysaccharides in the oak increased the variety’s richness.
Some winemakers will use Barbera as a blending variety with red grapes that may lack those acidic and tannin levels themselves, to make a softer, more rounded and potentially more balanced wine, but Margan says that it is a variety best crafted into a single varietal wine.
“Over the years we have looked at blending options but at the end of the day, because the wine is shaped around its acidity rather than its tannins, it really needs to be left alone and not blended,” he said.
“I ferment in closed stainless steel to two Baume and then press into stainless steel for malolactic (malo) fermentation.
“Post malo, the wine is run into one and two year old barriques for three months with some left in stainless. Given the low tannin content of the variety, the use of oak isn’t to soften the wine as such, so oak is not the answer for this variety.”
Margan says that there has been a couple of issues with Barbera in the winery, but there are ways to work around it.
“I have had Brettanomycese enter the winery twice from the vineyard and both times it was traced back to the Barbera,” he said.
“With that knowledge, we ensure we increase the use of SO₂ during the picking and crushing. Otherwise, as a low tannin and high acid variety, I look at acid levels for picking times as we would normally have colour and flavour ripeness present whilst having TA (tannin) levels above where we would pick.
If Barbera is presenting some issues in the winery, Margan’s ‘top tip’ is to “not pick it without getting your acid under 9 TA”.
Australian Barbera wines are often somewhat similar to those from Italy – the similarities, of course, being the high acidity and savoury fruit flavour profile.
Margan’s Barbera is the best-selling red wine at his cellar door, which has given him confidence to plant an additional six acres of Barbera vines, bringing his block total to 18 acres.
“Barbera is a great variety for the Hunter,” he said, “It is not prone to disease and can ripen in wet years so, all in all, it works very well here”.
---
Barbera Uncorked
High natural acidity in wine is something typical of the Italian red powerhouses Barbera, Nero d’Avola, Nebbiolo and Sangiovese. Journalist Samuel Squire dives into some of the history of one of Italy’s most-planted winegrape varieties, and speaks to Australian producers and an importer of Italian Barbera wine to find out where it stands in the local market.
You can find the Barbera Uncorked article in print in the latest issue of the Grapegrower & Winemaker or READ FREE ONLINE in full here: www.winetitles.com.au/barbera-uncorked/
2/3
Hunter Valley producer Margan Wines was the first in the region to adopt the variety into its own vineyard in Broke Fordwich at its Ceres Hill property.
Margan Wines has just completed its 20th vintage with Barbera, having first planted the variety in 1998 using cuttings taken from the original Montrose Mudgee vineyard planted by Carlo Corino back in the 1950s.
Andrew Margan (pictured), owner and chief winemaker of Margan Wines in the Hunter, says the variety takes some time to acclimatise to Australian conditions, in his experience.
“As a young vine, it used to defoliate with extreme heat conditions,” he said, “However, as it has aged, it is now appearing to cope much better”.
He says Barbera is generally quite disease resistant and “our clone tends to distribute fruit so that bunches don’t sit one on top of the other, and the berries are quite loose”, making bunch rot rare.
“It doesn’t seem to mind wet weather and continues to ripen under waterlogged conditions.”
Margan has worked with Barbera across the Hunter Valley, Mudgee, Orange, the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. He says that, in Australia, the variety isn’t necessarily suited to one particular region over another, but that each region shows its character in the wines produced.
However, he says the characteristics the Hunter Valley brings out in the variety are quite unique.
“[There’s] no such thing as a ‘best’ region for me,” he said, “[Each region’s Barbera] is different and represents the individual regions’ particular growing characteristics. I have good and bad grapes from all the areas I worked with it.”
Margan says his Barbera block (planted in Broke Fordwich) is managed using VSP with permanent mid row sward and is managed using an undervine cultivation machine.
Margan spur prunes his Barbera to 16-20 buds per arm, however he is currently in the process of cutting the vines back to canes.
In the winery
Barbera is naturally acidic and high in tannin levels, but if managed correctly in the winery, can produce bright and fresh wine to pair with delectable Italian cuisine.
In the 1970s, a French oenologist – Emile Peynaud – recommended Barbera producers use small oak barrels for fermentation and maturation (Italian Wine Connection 2017).
This was suggested in order to add a subtle oaky characteristic to the wine, which allowed limited levels of oxygenation to occur through maturation, letting the single varietal wine soften that way. Peynaud discovered that the polysaccharides in the oak increased the variety’s richness.
Some winemakers will use Barbera as a blending variety with red grapes that may lack those acidic and tannin levels themselves, to make a softer, more rounded and potentially more balanced wine, but Margan says that it is a variety best crafted into a single varietal wine.
“Over the years we have looked at blending options but at the end of the day, because the wine is shaped around its acidity rather than its tannins, it really needs to be left alone and not blended,” he said.
“I ferment in closed stainless steel to two Baume and then press into stainless steel for malolactic (malo) fermentation.
“Post malo, the wine is run into one and two year old barriques for three months with some left in stainless. Given the low tannin content of the variety, the use of oak isn’t to soften the wine as such, so oak is not the answer for this variety.”
Margan says that there has been a couple of issues with Barbera in the winery, but there are ways to work around it.
“I have had Brettanomycese enter the winery twice from the vineyard and both times it was traced back to the Barbera,” he said.
“With that knowledge, we ensure we increase the use of SO₂ during the picking and crushing. Otherwise, as a low tannin and high acid variety, I look at acid levels for picking times as we would normally have colour and flavour ripeness present whilst having TA (tannin) levels above where we would pick.
If Barbera is presenting some issues in the winery, Margan’s ‘top tip’ is to “not pick it without getting your acid under 9 TA”.
Australian Barbera wines are often somewhat similar to those from Italy – the similarities, of course, being the high acidity and savoury fruit flavour profile.
Margan’s Barbera is the best-selling red wine at his cellar door, which has given him confidence to plant an additional six acres of Barbera vines, bringing his block total to 18 acres.
“Barbera is a great variety for the Hunter,” he said, “It is not prone to disease and can ripen in wet years so, all in all, it works very well here”.
---
Barbera Uncorked
High natural acidity in wine is something typical of the Italian red powerhouses Barbera, Nero d’Avola, Nebbiolo and Sangiovese. Journalist Samuel Squire dives into some of the history of one of Italy’s most-planted winegrape varieties, and speaks to Australian producers and an importer of Italian Barbera wine to find out where it stands in the local market.
You can find the Barbera Uncorked article in print in the latest issue of the Grapegrower & Winemaker or READ FREE ONLINE in full here: www.winetitles.com.au/barbera-uncorked/
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