the state of things

out the other afternoon, i was meeting a friend in a place that's kind of new, but in a neighborhood sorely in need of exactly what it wants to be. it was towards the end of the workday and a wine rep i knew was in there peddling some summer juice. he works for one of my favorite suppliers and is a good egg. he tasted with the manager (?) and left her bottles to share with the staff, one of which was a barbera.

now, i can only guess this woman is in charge of the small wine list, which is why she was tasting, right? the bartender asked which was her favorite, and she answered the barbera, but she mispronounced it, the accents in all the wrong spots. now, i can only guess her rep had called the wine by its name at least once, right? so she'd heard the word only a few minutes prior. even IF she'd never heard of it prior to that day. um, the 3rd most widely planted varietal in italy, not one of the hundreds of krazee obscure grapes that are commercially not viable yet still trail all over the country.

the bartender held it up to his nose. "is it like barolo?" which to me meant he'd never had a barolo, which is fine, because they can be expensive, he's young and works in a neighborhood joint. to which she replied, "um kinda."

GAAAAAHHHHH. NONONONONONO!!

just for starters, barolo is from the nebbiolo grape, while barbera IS the grape. stylistically, barolos are like giant ultimate fighters, muscular, powerful, overpowering when young but lithe with moves that matter with some age, while barberas are mostly easy-drinking fruit-forward jesters, not built to last.

this chick had no idea what she was talking about, drinking or buying. and she has a job doing it. awesome.