2019 Scott Harvey Barbera, J&S Reserve, Amador County
Divvy-Up
80 Points
Tasting Notes
Bright red cherry and tobacco with earthy characteristics. This Barbera has an extractive full center with soft drinkability. Delightful to pair with all things chocolate or a steak tartare.
100% from Amador County. Amador County is extremely well suited to Barbera. Barbera both buds out earlier and ripens later than Zinfandel producing grapes at lower pH with full bright varietal fruit. Amador County is rapidly becoming known as the best wine growing region in the world for Barbera.
Winemaking
The 2019 vintage was a vintage defined by a cool snap during flowering in the mountain vineyards that resulted in a drop of 50% in the fruit yield, but a much more extracted and complex character in the fruit due to the lower yields.
Comments
The Scott Harvey Barbera from Amador County CA is better than most Italian Barberas. Yup I said it. This wine has a beautiful balance of gentle tannins and acidity that make every sip smooth and elegant. Notes of incense, cherry, and licorice come through in this easy to drink versatile wine. Many Italian Barberas can be overly acidic, this Cali champ has none of that. I would pair this wine with cheese, pasta, pizza, grilled meats like chicken or pork, even a ribeye. My wife said this Barbera was "easy vs. fussy". Yes I am going to order more.
A Thirsty Gold Rush
You might think that Amador Count in the California Sierra is a relatively new region for wine grapes, but it’s actually one of the first. Think about it, all those failed mining claims and disheartened prospectors needed some way to drown their sorrows. And since there were plenty of Europeans that joined the Gold Rush, planting grapes was natural. Within a few decades there were over 100 wineries in the area called the Motherlode - more than any other part of California at that time.
The end of the gold rush and prohibition did put the kibosh on Sierra’s wine community and it wasn’t until the 1960s that interest started to rekindle in this region as a site for premium wines. Even now production from Amador County only represents 1-2% of California’s wine grape crop, but over 25% of the gold medals won in state-wide competitions.
There are two main sub-AVAs in Amador County. Shenandoah Valley and Fiddletown. Shenandoah fruit tends to produce fuller, riper, earthier wines. Fiddletown is higher elevation and the wines are known for their fruitiness.
While the signature wine of the Sierras has been big Zinfandel, the growers of the region have been taking advantage of the area's sun exposure, consistent heat and cool nights - a diurnal swing of almost 35 degrees is not uncommon - to develop award winning Italian and Spanish varietals.
The region is creating a reputation for its outstanding Barbera, and some growers make the claim that it is becoming the spot for the world’s best Barbera wines. That’s big talk, but the results in California wine competitions seem to back up the claims. Also keep in mind that Barbera is the second-tier grape in its native Piedmont, where prime vineyard sites are first planted with Nebbiolo. There are exceptions thank goodness!
Here in the Sierras, growers are dedicating some of the best vineyards to Barbera. Eyes began to open to Sierra Barbera in 2016 when almost 100 Barbera wines were entered in the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. And of those 25% won Gold or Double Gold Medals which was an extraordinary percentage for any varietal that was entered. Amador County’s contribution? Roughly half of the Gold or Double Gold medals.
Want to find out more about Amador County?
https://amadorwine.com/
https://amadorwinegrapes.com/
I am used to Italian Barbera and have only once before tried this varietal from California. So I wasn't quite sure what to think of this wine, particularly coming from Amador County. It was all new for me.
Into the glass it went. Hello...what's this? It was much deeper color than the Barbera I remember. Same Ruby, but dense all the way to the meniscus. Beautiful. The aroma was pronounced, with cherry leading the way. Normally I pick up a little acidity in a Barbera up front, but not with the Scott Harvey. I got some dark fruit too, like a cross between blueberry and black berry. Also some earth like something savory beneath the fruit and a little toasted wood.
That first taste was all New World, big and extracted like a Napa Cab. Smooth and mouth-filling. We were foraging, so I had the wine with locally made salami - there was a salami with fennel, a lamb salami and prosciutto. Three month old Manchego and some Kerrygold Cheddar kept the meats company. It worked really well, not overpowering the salami and not overwhelmed by the cheese. This isn't your acid-leading style of Barbera, but there is nice bright acidity. And at 15.7% ABV I am betting this will hold its own with any dish.
I'm a convert. I love the red fruit and the big ripe mouthfeel. There's enough acidity to keep it bright without being a dominant characteristic which can be the case in some imported Barbera. And I'm thinking I better pay attention to Amador County. There's something special going on there. I'm definitely in on this deal.
Two time domestique the Giro d'Bottiglia!
Scott Harvey, Barbera 2019
I have always enjoyed sipping on a good Barbera wine. My hubby and I were delighted to try Scott Harvey, Barbera last night and it was a winner. From the first taste, I can tell that this is a perfect sipping wine. The kind you drink while enjoying a savory charcuterie board . Deep red in color, easy to sip, low tannins, with a hint of spice. We opened the bottle at room temperature and dove right in. While I sipped the Barbera revealed itself to be soft, delicate, rich in flavor with a slow dry finish. In short, I would describe this wine as elegant, and easy. Great choice for a relaxing night in.
Looks like the specs on this got incorrectly pulled for the 2018 vintage.
Per the SH website for the 2019
https://www.scottharveywines.com/product/2019-J-S-Reserve-Barbera
Vintage 2019
Varietal Barbera
Appellation Amador County
Alcohol %14.5
hey @ronq thanks for the eagle eye catch on the specs. We thought there was something a bit strange when we built the offer last week, so we reached out to Scott Harvey for a spec sheet. It's attached below.
That spec sheet is not on the trade/media section of the winery site yet, but that's the info we took as gospel. The ABV is 15.7% according to the label on the bottle. This is based on my personal research quaffing a bottle of this fantastic Barbera last week. I love my job!
Just my two cents, but the wine is so big and balanced that 15.7%ABV didn't come across on the palate or in aromas.
Here is the spec sheet:
Thanks for digging that up. Clearly a disconnect on what Scott currently has up on the site.
15.7 really does seem high for any bottling I've seen from Scott, unless it's the Forté or Eis.
Love his Barbera and this totally kills the wine club pricing.
Ron, were you able to get confirmation from Scott one way or the other? At 14.5% I'm in but at 15.7% combined with the "bigness" discussed in the notes it sounds like the rare SH wine that might not be up my alley.
My girlfriend and I are big fans of California wine. Having grown up in California (not too far from Amador county), we were excited to try a wine from a region that we were familiar with but had not spent much time in. While we love reds, we also had not tried many Barberas. Needless to say, we were excited to try this wine and were curious to see what it was like. As we poured a glass, we were struck by its color with deep shades of ruby. On the nose, we were hit with fruity notes like strawberry and blackberry and earthy notes like pine and leather. Finally, we could sense the heat. On our first taste, we loved the smooth mouth feel. On the palate, it was fruit-forward, tart, and smoky with relatively low tannins. It had distinct flavors of raspberry, leather, and tobacco with a strong heat to it. The wine stood alone and was even better when paired with dinner. It was a great introduction to Barberas and Amador county. We're excited to try more!
@jon Thanks for the review. We'll see what we can do to accommodate your desire to try more. We love our PrevViewers!
And we welcome anyone else that wants to join the program. Just send an email with name, address and phone to prevview@divvy-up.com.
We send you a complimentary bottle a couple days early, and you pop it open and post your review when that wine offer goes live.