Idlewild Barbera, Dolcetto & Cortese

Tasting notes & discussion 11

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93 Points, Vinous
90 Points, Vinous
91 Points, Vinous
Typically $48/bottle from Idlewild Wines
Vintage 2021 from Yorkville Highlands
Available for AL; AZ; AR; CA; CO; CT; DC; FL; GA; ID; IL; IN; IA; KS; KY; LA; ME; MD; MA; MI; MN; MO; MT; NE; NV; NH; NJ; NM; NY; NC; ND; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; VT; VA; WA; WV; WI; WY
Sold by participating winery or licensee, fulfilled by Wine Country Connect

About Idlewild Wines: “Idlewild has a relatively concise aim within a broad context: to produce wines of exceptional balance and beauty. It is a journey to pursue Italy’s Piedmont in the elevated hills of Mendocino County, and to find the sides of these varieties that are intriguing, delicious, and haunting.”

Same Name, No Relation

TASTING NOTES:

Idlewild Barbera - “While I tend towards lighter and brighter in my reds, Barbera is the exception. With such amazing natural acidity, a deeper and more brooding wine can still find balance. The year spent in large format Slovenian oak Botti added an additional layer to the mouthfeel by filling out the tannin profile while also maintaining the freshness. Amarena cherries, earth, pepper like spice, violets, graphite and fresh Santa Rosa plums are aromatic highlights. A full and lush front and mid palate are balanced by the firm and very fresh structure.” (AbV 13.6%)

Idlewild Dolcetto - “The 2021 Dolcetto is a balance of bright and lifted aromatics against a taut and lithe structure. The elevage in large format Slovenian oak Botti pushed this contrast further by retaining freshness while also filling out the mouthfeel and structure. The nose shows high toned spices, red cherry, earth, roses, almond, and anise. The mouth is medium bodied with freshness and firm tannin on the finish. It is joyful and fully serious all at once.” (AbV 12.2%)

Idlewild Cortese - “This wine is a balance of texture in a lithe and demure format. The elevage in large Slovenian oak Botti retained great freshness while also framing the wine beautifully. Lemon balm, chamomile, sage, orange peel, straw, and white tea are highlights of the aromas. The mouthfeel is saline and viscous followed by driving acidity and firm phenolic power.” (AbV 12.1%)

BARRELS: Barbera is all acid and no tannin… literally, there is next to no tannin in the skins. With this in mind, the grapes were fully foot trodden and all stems were included for added spice and structure. The must fermented naturally via native yeast and bacteria. At dryness, the wine was pressed to large Slovenian oak Botti where it evolved and integrated for a year. Then, a year in bottle completed its aging.

PAIRS WITH: N/A

THAT REMINDS ME OF: Idlewild.

Before Idlewild was a wine label, it was the name of the airport now known as JFK. New York International Airport opened in Queens in 1948 on the site of a defunct golf course called Idlewild, and for fifteen years “Idlewild” was simply what New Yorkers called the place where you caught a flight to Rome or Paris — until the assassination of a president in 1963 sent it hurtling toward a very different name.

The word keeps popping up elsewhere, too. There’s Idlewild, Michigan, a resort town on a lake that became known as “Black Eden” in the early twentieth century, a rare vacation spot where Black families could buy property and where Louis Armstrong and Aretha Franklin played the clubs. There’s also the 2006 OutKast movie Idlewild, a Prohibition-era musical set in a fictional Georgia speakeasy town. None of these Idlewilds know about each other. They just all landed on the same two words — idle, wild — like a name that different places kept independently discovering was worth having.

PRODUCER PODCAST: Idlewild Barbera, Dolcetto & Cortese (4:57)

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Worried Summer heat might get to your wine before your wine gets to you? Order from the sale linked here, and we’ll get it to you at a cooler time of year!
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Who's buying this?

How are you buying your bottles?

So many places named Idlewild, all landing on the same two words. If you were naming a place from scratch, what's your instinct?

I'd go with something that describes how it feels to be there

I'd go with something that describes how it feels to be there
I'd name it after whatever used to be on that land

I'd name it after whatever used to be on that land
I'd pick something completely unrelated, just because it sounds good

I'd pick something completely unrelated, just because it sounds good
I'd name it after a person who mattered there

I'd name it after a person who mattered there
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