OK.  This wine, quite honestly, is the kind of value that could drive us out of business.  What I mean is that we would need to sell an awful lot of $12 Barbera to pay our rent here in Dublin.  But a deal is a deal and when one this good comes along, we need to share it!  Chiarlo is, of course, the 400-pound gorilla of the Monferrato hills in the Asti zone of northern Piemonte.  They make a fair bit of wine and have large holdings in the area. In fact, the fruit for this amazing deal, the Chiarlo’s ‘basic’ Barbera d’Asti, comes from four separate estates the Chiarlos farm scattered around the Nizza appellation including the iconic La Court, the vineyard many consider to be the best spot for Barbera in the entire region.  Le Orme gets an inordinate amount of attention at the winery for a wine that routinely sells for around $15.  It’s fermented in steel but gets three months aging in French oak casks and is only released after 16 months in the cellar.  It acts as a sort of business card for Chiarlo, the wine most people will try first and they want it to leave an indelible impression.  This does!  Good Barbera needs to have great fruit and this truly does- dark and plummy with hints of florals, a whiff of blueberry and a dash of Kirsch in there as well.  Light on its feet, it has plenty of Barbera’s hallmark acidity to frame it.  Sitting on a middle weight frame, it’s the ultimate go-with-everything red wine that offers up considerably more interest than just about anything else we’ve tasted from anywhere for this price!  Really, buy a case of this and you’ll find it open on the patio table alongside all manner of summer fare and, of course, all those the pasta dishes this variety loves so much.  Very highly recommended!