2018 Eugenio Bocchino Barbera D’Alba as Scottie Pippen

If you get overwhelmed easily, Italian wine will devastate you. There are more than 500 varietals (types of grapes!) in Italy alone. If you go looking for an Italian wine you will like, imagine having to know 500 grapes?? Good news is, you don’t, so take a deep breath and open up this Barbera!

Barbera is my go-to order at an Italian restaurant or when ordering for the table. It is usually fruit forward (a la Zinfandel, Cabernet) but lower in tannin (a la Pinot Noir, Gamay). It has undertones of earthiness but doesn’t typically feel like you can taste the dirt. I would say it most closely resembles a Syrah/Shiraz. The result is a delightful, easy to drink wine that pleases most people and goes with a lot of different food. Barbera is typically grown in Piedmont alongside a more famed grape, Nebbiolo.

This wine supports EVERYTHING and doesn’t steal the credit from your food. That’s why this wine as a celeb is Scottie Pippen. Who makes everything better but never gets the credit? Who is always there with the assist? Who is still amazing on their own? Scottie Pippen.

This particular Barbera was a total crowd pleaser. At $26 per bottle (or $70 that we paid in the restaurant lol) this won’t break the bank so long as you’re at home. And there’s a wiener dog on the label!

This fruit forward but balanced wine supports your meal like the fine soldier it is. At 13.5% abv, the alcohol is in great balance with the flavors, acid, and body. At your dinner, the osso buco is the MVP but this Barbera made it happen.