The Desert Wine Guy - 2013 Nevada Ridge, Barbera

   Today I am going to be reviewing a wine from the Southern Nevada town of Pahrump which is about 40 minutes North of Las Vegas. To most people, the state of Nevada isn't the first place that pops into their mind in reference to wine however there are hopes to change that in the future. Let's go ahead now and talk a little bit about the Winery that this wine comes from.
   The Pahrump Valley Winery (http://www.pahrumpwinery.com/) and its affiliate Nevada Wine Cellars (same company, same address) generate just over 3 Million Dollars a year with the latest figures that I have seen at the time of this writing. For a state that is not known for wine, I would say that this winery is doing fairly well. Remember that this is not the Napa Valley. The Winery was founded in 2004 when it was bought from Jack Sanders who owned the property prior to the current owners of Bill & Gretchen Loken. By the way, Jack has since moved on to develop the Sanders Family Winery (http://sanderswinery.com/) which is also located in Pahrump and makes awesome wines so is a must-visit. The Winery about a year ago went through an expansion phase where they added 7,000 square feet to the facility. The Winery grows it's own (estate) Zinfandel as well as Syrah grapes and they are pretty cool to see in the middle of the desert. The grapes for this particular wine, however, come from the School Lane Vineyards which is located in the Amargosa Valley, around 30 minutes from the Winery. As a matter of interest, all the grapes used for the "Nevada Ridge" series of wines are grown in Nevada and are Produced & Bottled here as well.
   To many people, this grape varietal of Barbera might be a bit of an unknown so let's discuss it a bit. Northwest Italy is the ancient home of the Barbera Varietal. When wines are made from young grapes of the varietal, the notes can range from Cherries & Raspberries but as the wine ages, the notes of Black Cherry & Blackberry come into play. The wine also loves to show off nice Acidity if it is allowed to develop, 

   On the Nose this wine is definitely filled with Hibiscus notes galore. There is also a strong Caramel & Cocoa Nose to the wine that alludes to potential sweet darkness on the Palate but we will see about that. There are a cherry oak note and Molasses note as well and these Notes present themselves rather straight forward as they are not shy by any means.
   Switching quickly to the Palate now, it is very clear that the Molasses Note which was on the Nose of this wine translates right on over to the Palate. This Note also heavily contributes to a lot of the overbearing sweetness/darkness that the wine presents on the Palate. As a matter of fact, the darkness of the Molasses Note contributes to creating such sweetness that there is just simply no getting away from it. The further Notes of Caramel & Cocoa rush through as well and do nothing to cut that sweetness only adding to it. Following this up, the wine also displays an Oakey under texture of sorts. Contributing to these Notes and just as evident on the Palate is a note of ripe Fig that arrives around Mid-Palate and also does nothing to change the direction of the wine while continuing to raise the sweetness level of it. To make matters only worse, an astringency of sorts presents itself shortly before the Mid-Palate and continues through to the Finish of the wine.

  Alright guys, let me start off by telling you that this expression of the varietal is not meant for aging. This wine has about another year (perhaps two) and it will be past its prime so if you have it and you like wines on way sweeter side with both a heavy Molasses and Fig Notes, I suggest you drink it now. For me, I find it a good bit too rich for my blood. This is also not a wine that I can even finish folks. At this point, I have consumed a little less than half of a bottle but I simply cannot go on any further. To me, I can almost feel my sugar level rising (weird I know) but I am experiencing the big-time concern of a Hangover in the morning and I am too old for that guys. So as a wrapup I will say that the wine is pretty consistent with what its varietal is supposed to be. It is a "juicy" wine and it does have some Tannins but these good things are certainly entirely killed by the overall sweetness of the wine. I have to end this review right now so here is my rating of the wine. On The Desert Wine Guy rating scale, I give this wine 84 points which means that this is "A wine that is not worth mentioning. A wine that needs to be relegated to the dumpster." My suggestion is if you have friends who love sweet red wines then, by all means, give this wine to them. For those friends of yours who are into decent wine, please do your friendship with them a favor and open a real bottle of wine instead of this.

                                                                                                                          The Desert Wine Guy

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