Bronze, San Francisco International Wine Competition
Tasting Notes
Our Mendocino 2018 Barbera comes from grapes beautifully grown in the Northern Coastal Range. Flavors of ripe dark berries, along with hints of pepper, savory herbs, and a subtle hint of lavender dance across the palate of this award-winning wine. We produced a total of 141 cases of this beautiful wine, and are thrilled to share it with you!
Food Pairing Recommendation: Share with family on a warm fall evening over a bowl of pasta - spaghetti Bolognese is our favorite!
Omega Road Winery is more than just a place to enjoy great wine. Our passion is crafting beautiful wines, and our heart and soul go into each bottle we produce. We believe in the magic of wine to spark connections, build friendships, and bring people together. As winemakers, Alexandra and Ken strive to maintain varietal characteristics while building complex flavors. Combining her enthusiasm, his experience, and their combined love of crafting (and enjoying) beautiful wine, they started Omega Road Winery in 2011 and opened the tasting room in May 2017.
We believe that wine has the power to bring people together and create connections. We also believe in the power of community: to nourish the connection we have with the world around us and the connection we have within ourselves.
Available States
AL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, 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
@InFrom@kaolis@ScottW58
“I” don’t take off, I’m already at the Cape. It’s a SpaceX heavy that will attempt to launch the payload science package. First attempt for tomorrow scrubbed due to WX, rescheduled for Friday but that doesn’t really look any more promising.
Nope, no 'mates in the area responded to my post I’d be in the area. I’ve now had to reschedule dinner at Bern’s three times, not an easy task.
TLDR: An easy-drinking Barbera that needs some air; if you like Barberas, this is a winner.
Not much information about the wine on the bottle-- just the year, variety, appellation, alcohol, and that it was bottled by Omega Road Winery. Getting to the point of pop and pour was a bit of a struggle. I normally use a two-prong cork puller (Ah-So style), but this cork didn’t want to cooperate. It was a three-layer composite-- cork, corkboard, cork-- and very tight in the bottle. But a wing-style corkscrew managed it. (It was then hard to unscrew the cork from the screw-- the middle layer was very hard.)
The wine has a nice aroma, easily discerned even through a somewhat stuffy nose. I may have detected a little bit of oak beyond the aroma of grapes. Whatever, it is pleasant. On the tongue I get blackberry, maybe some mulberry, and a fairly long and pleasant finish. It’s fairly full-bodied for a Barbera. For comparison, I opened a bottle of 2018 Peterson Tollini Vineyard Barbera (also Mendocino). I found it difficult to tell the two wines apart, although the Omega Road is slightly darker and maybe a little more complex. My wife, who doesn’t tend to like Barberas, also thought they were very similar, but didn’t like either one. Both went fine with dinner, which featured baked skinless chicken thighs coated in seasoned bread crumbs and grated cheese. A quick taste a few hours later didn’t show much change.
On day two, the Omega Road came into its own, adding mixed cherry flavors and seemingly a little more acid. Very pleasant to sip. It went okay with dinner of some mildly spiced Indian food, but most any unpretentious red wine would. The Tollini was not as good on the second day.
At the case price of $16.67/bottle, it is a bit more than I’d hoped to pay (I’d hoped for something more in the under $15 range), but I’m in for a case.
Thanks for the review and sharing your thoughts! Our Barbera is pretty bold and definitely can benefit from a quick decant. Once it opens up, the fruit, acid, and tannin meld together beautifully and can stand up to some bold dishes.
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: tax and shipping are not included in savings calculations).
Omega Road Winery Barbera - $60 = 23.07%
An email from Alice, a Brown truck arriving, and a wine-shaped box arrived: this is how a happy story starts. Opening the box to find the Omega Road Barbera some intrigue builds as I have been quite a fan of the varietal, and the bottle does not really say much about what’s inside beyond the legally required bits. After slipping the bottle into the cooler to rest from its cross-country journey, I promptly forgot about it in the relative busyness of my week. Thankfully, this is a happy story, and my memory came through, and thanks for those that made this happen!
Initial impressions: a bit of cork staining and some amount of accumulated cruft; wine color a bit darker than expected for the varietal, but a respectable warm garnet with good clarity, and only a little bit of debris (likely only from what had built up in the neck near the cork). A first whiff made me pull back my nose sharply as it sensed the hotness of alcohol with only suggestions of other aromas. A deep breath, along with a moment of swirl in the glass and I was headed back in, this time detecting berries—brightened by the still-lingering alcohol—that I thought of as white cranberries or tart Ranier cherries, and a bit of saddle leather. A few more swirls, deep breaths, and another minute later the aromas refined as the sharpness of the alcohol blunted and the berry flavor rose to prominence, garnished with the leather and an herbal quality I initially called crushed oregano.
Onward to taste! The body of this Barbera was more than I expected, but it is well balanced and fresh. The taste conjured images of gushing cherries, black pepper and perhaps another spice, some plum mixed in, and a vegetal herb which aligned to what I had called oregano previously. And there at the end something else, floral… lavender? A second sip confirmed the mélange I had identified to be true.
While I was enjoying quaffing this first glass on its own—and could see myself not needing to pair it with anything—I had a bit more work left to do. Sampled alongside naked smoked pulled pork (great pairing), a mix of nuts including cashew, pecan, and almonds (worked quite well with the slight saltiness), and some cheddar cheese that was a little too mild for my ideal pairing (some aged white would have been better). The wine pulled out the intensity of the smoked flavor with the pork and I started imaging how other smoked and/or gamey meats would be similarly complimented.
A couple of hours later with some friends, we poured some more for community opinions. My wife—who generally dislikes Barbera such as the Scott Harvey (one of my favorites)—gave it high marks noting the lushness of flavor and giving it her thumbs up. Others also concurred that it was well balanced and very drinkable, although none offered further notes aside from commenting on the lack of additional bottles to be had.
At the end of the bottle, I reflected upon the experience and summed it thusly: a surprisingly rich example of Barbera bringing subtle notes of leather, lavender, pepper, and oregano to line the lush cherry body and nose, with enough character to be enjoyed on its own or paired with savory dishes.
I wanted to share at least one photo of the wine’s color, but I wasn’t able to taste this at home due to pre-existing plans, so forgive the slight novelty glassware in use.
Thanks for the review! We love that our Barbera is easy to sip on its own, but also shines when pairing with some bold dishes. The pulled pork sounds like a fantastic combo with the wine - we’ll have to try that at the winery!
Ginormo is a sci-fi comedy series satirizing Japanese monster movies and TV shows of the 1960s and 1970s. Using only effects from that time period - bad rubber monster suits, spaceships on strings, miniatures and hokey scripts and dialogue - Ginormo pays homage to a period of craftsmanship before CGI came onto the scene. Presented as a lost science fiction series from 1972 that was never aired because it was so bad, Ginormo lovingly and humorously pays tribute to a by-gone era in the form of a ridiculous meta comedy that can be enjoyed by young and old alike. Created by two AAPI writer/producer/directors - Ken Mok (Joy, Invincible, America’s Next Top Model) and Youtube star Steven He, Ginormo also showcases a primarily AAPI cast - a talent base that’s historically been under-represented in film and television.
2018 Omega Road Winery Barbera, Mendocino
Bronze, San Francisco International Wine Competition
Tasting Notes
Specs
What’s Included
3-bottles:
Case:
Price Comparison
Not for sale online, $480/case MSRP
About The Winery
Available States
AL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, 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
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Oct 16 - Wednesday, Oct 18
2018 Omega Road Winery Barbara
3 bottles for $64.99 $21.66/bottle + $2.67/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $199.99 $16.67/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
@ilCesare We’re excited to share our Barbera with everyone for such a great deal! Retail would put this at over $400 for a case…
Barbara? Is that you?
@InFrom Who’s Barbara?
@InFrom @kaolis
@kaolis @rjquillin Pretty sure the winery misspelled it…
@InFrom @kaolis @rjquillin
God she was good looking but I preferred Elizabeth Montgomery Bewitched more! Ron pic please
@InFrom @kaolis @ScottW58
Talk about thread creep in the daily…
@InFrom @kaolis @rjquillin
@InFrom @rjquillin @ScottW58 or creepy thread drift?
@InFrom @kaolis @rjquillin
Get off my lawn!
@InFrom @kaolis @ScottW58
Seems I have at least a thread of memory still active
while at the cape for our launch.
@InFrom @kaolis @rjquillin
Lol! When do you take off? Hope you found someone to drink with!
@InFrom @kaolis @ScottW58
“I” don’t take off, I’m already at the Cape. It’s a SpaceX heavy that will attempt to launch the payload science package. First attempt for tomorrow scrubbed due to WX, rescheduled for Friday but that doesn’t really look any more promising.
Nope, no 'mates in the area responded to my post I’d be in the area. I’ve now had to reschedule dinner at Bern’s three times, not an easy task.
@InFrom @rjquillin @ScottW58 Ground Control to Major Tom…
@InFrom @kaolis @rjquillin @ScottW58 I recall watching some launches from near the Cape (Saturn 5 back in the day…).
@InFrom @kaolis @rjquillin
although that would be a w e s o m e!
Well I did not think YOU were going up
@InFrom @rjquillin @ScottW58 thinking I might see this off the southern SC coast if visibility allows? Wave to me
@InFrom @kaolis @ScottW58
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nasas-psyche-mission-registration-372096158627?aff=NVITE
2018 Omega Road Barbera, Mendocino, 14.5%
TLDR: An easy-drinking Barbera that needs some air; if you like Barberas, this is a winner.
Not much information about the wine on the bottle-- just the year, variety, appellation, alcohol, and that it was bottled by Omega Road Winery. Getting to the point of pop and pour was a bit of a struggle. I normally use a two-prong cork puller (Ah-So style), but this cork didn’t want to cooperate. It was a three-layer composite-- cork, corkboard, cork-- and very tight in the bottle. But a wing-style corkscrew managed it. (It was then hard to unscrew the cork from the screw-- the middle layer was very hard.)
The wine has a nice aroma, easily discerned even through a somewhat stuffy nose. I may have detected a little bit of oak beyond the aroma of grapes. Whatever, it is pleasant. On the tongue I get blackberry, maybe some mulberry, and a fairly long and pleasant finish. It’s fairly full-bodied for a Barbera. For comparison, I opened a bottle of 2018 Peterson Tollini Vineyard Barbera (also Mendocino). I found it difficult to tell the two wines apart, although the Omega Road is slightly darker and maybe a little more complex. My wife, who doesn’t tend to like Barberas, also thought they were very similar, but didn’t like either one. Both went fine with dinner, which featured baked skinless chicken thighs coated in seasoned bread crumbs and grated cheese. A quick taste a few hours later didn’t show much change.
On day two, the Omega Road came into its own, adding mixed cherry flavors and seemingly a little more acid. Very pleasant to sip. It went okay with dinner of some mildly spiced Indian food, but most any unpretentious red wine would. The Tollini was not as good on the second day.
At the case price of $16.67/bottle, it is a bit more than I’d hoped to pay (I’d hoped for something more in the under $15 range), but I’m in for a case.
@DickL
Thanks for the review and sharing your thoughts! Our Barbera is pretty bold and definitely can benefit from a quick decant. Once it opens up, the fruit, acid, and tannin meld together beautifully and can stand up to some bold dishes.
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: tax and shipping are not included in savings calculations).
Omega Road Winery Barbera - $60 = 23.07%
An email from Alice, a Brown truck arriving, and a wine-shaped box arrived: this is how a happy story starts. Opening the box to find the Omega Road Barbera some intrigue builds as I have been quite a fan of the varietal, and the bottle does not really say much about what’s inside beyond the legally required bits. After slipping the bottle into the cooler to rest from its cross-country journey, I promptly forgot about it in the relative busyness of my week. Thankfully, this is a happy story, and my memory came through, and thanks for those that made this happen!
Initial impressions: a bit of cork staining and some amount of accumulated cruft; wine color a bit darker than expected for the varietal, but a respectable warm garnet with good clarity, and only a little bit of debris (likely only from what had built up in the neck near the cork). A first whiff made me pull back my nose sharply as it sensed the hotness of alcohol with only suggestions of other aromas. A deep breath, along with a moment of swirl in the glass and I was headed back in, this time detecting berries—brightened by the still-lingering alcohol—that I thought of as white cranberries or tart Ranier cherries, and a bit of saddle leather. A few more swirls, deep breaths, and another minute later the aromas refined as the sharpness of the alcohol blunted and the berry flavor rose to prominence, garnished with the leather and an herbal quality I initially called crushed oregano.
Onward to taste! The body of this Barbera was more than I expected, but it is well balanced and fresh. The taste conjured images of gushing cherries, black pepper and perhaps another spice, some plum mixed in, and a vegetal herb which aligned to what I had called oregano previously. And there at the end something else, floral… lavender? A second sip confirmed the mélange I had identified to be true.
While I was enjoying quaffing this first glass on its own—and could see myself not needing to pair it with anything—I had a bit more work left to do. Sampled alongside naked smoked pulled pork (great pairing), a mix of nuts including cashew, pecan, and almonds (worked quite well with the slight saltiness), and some cheddar cheese that was a little too mild for my ideal pairing (some aged white would have been better). The wine pulled out the intensity of the smoked flavor with the pork and I started imaging how other smoked and/or gamey meats would be similarly complimented.
A couple of hours later with some friends, we poured some more for community opinions. My wife—who generally dislikes Barbera such as the Scott Harvey (one of my favorites)—gave it high marks noting the lushness of flavor and giving it her thumbs up. Others also concurred that it was well balanced and very drinkable, although none offered further notes aside from commenting on the lack of additional bottles to be had.
At the end of the bottle, I reflected upon the experience and summed it thusly: a surprisingly rich example of Barbera bringing subtle notes of leather, lavender, pepper, and oregano to line the lush cherry body and nose, with enough character to be enjoyed on its own or paired with savory dishes.
I wanted to share at least one photo of the wine’s color, but I wasn’t able to taste this at home due to pre-existing plans, so forgive the slight novelty glassware in use.
@drhellknow Quiet crew, great review! What is it, Monday?
Thanks for the review! We love that our Barbera is easy to sip on its own, but also shines when pairing with some bold dishes. The pulled pork sounds like a fantastic combo with the wine - we’ll have to try that at the winery!
Wife loves barbera. In for a case.
/giphy defiant-detailed-lemming
@datanerd I know it’s just the random luck of a giphy, but anyone know what show that is from? I must watch it! While drinking Barbera?
@pmarin I have no idea. It’s so bizarre.
@datanerd @pmarin Google “search by image” can be your friend.
It’s a 1970’s series named “Ginormo!”.
Google search
You can find them on Youtube.
@datanerd @Mark_L Hmmm… IMDB say it’s a new show!