Friday Follies would like to thanks those winemakers who take time away from their busy schedules to visit us in Dublin. Two recent guests have visited us from as far away as South Australia and Asti, in Piedmont, Italy! In their honor, here are some Friday Follies deals.

2022 Jim Barry Lodge Hill Riesling, Clare Valley


Regular Price $32, Friday Follies Specials Either/Or $21.99
or 12 bottles or more for only $240/$20 a bottle.

2017 Jim Barry Lodge Hill Shiraz, Clare Valley


Regular Price $32, Friday Follies Specials Either/Or $21.99
or 12 bottles or more for only $240/$20 a bottle.

Been a while since we’ve had some good ol’ fashioned Aussie treasures to trumpet but Jim Barry’s Jane Ferrari’s visit last Friday gave us a chance to sink our noses into two truly wonderful values from the Clare Valley. This venerable producer purchased these old vines in the coolest eastern side of the valley back in 1977 and have been producing these under-the-radar gems ever since. The Riesling is classic Clare- from vines at 480 meters, it’s a beautiful spot; absolutely perfect for this late-ripening, difficult to master variety. Gorgeous Riesling peach pit and spice aromatics, bone dry and scintillatingly bright and exciting, this reminded more than one taster of the Grossets’ Watervale or Polish Hill Rieslings from nearby, just at under half the price! Drink now in the backyard all by itself or pair it with all sorts of fare. I bet if you lost a few bottles for a few years in the back of the cellar, it wouldn’t be a crime either. Such a good wine and the tasters last Friday all voted with their pocketbooks too! But wait! Isn’t Jim Barry better-known for their wonderful Shirazes and Cabs? Oh, yeah! The Barrys planted Shiraz in the same range of vineyards as the Riesling and have produced one of the best cooler climate versions of Clare Shiraz we’ve tasted in a while! Dark and earthy with a gorgeous mélange of black raspberry, mulberry, potpourri, melted tar and mineral on the nose, it’s not too big but not at all light either. It’s juuuuuust right! Lovers of Aussie Shiraz will find an awful lot to relate to here as will those whose jam is more the Northern Rhone Valley. Best of all? The price! Seriously. This drinks with a lot of the Aussie Big Boys at a fraction of the price. Both are very highly recommended. Not only by Jane…….

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Norbert Reinisch will be in Dublin this very evening with a bottle of this open for you to try alongside all of the amazing Braida wines, including the 2020 Bricco dell’Uccellera, one of the world’s great achievements in Barbera wine.

2021 Giacomo Bologna-Braida Barbera d’Asti DOCG ‘Montebruna’


Regular Price $35, Friday Follies Special $29.99

It must have been tough for the irrepressible Giacomo Bologna back in those early days trying to sell Barbera. It was a grape variety that sort of fell into the netherworld between the ubiquitous Dolcetto, the cheap wine that everyone drank everyday and Nebbiolo, the glamourous one everyone wanted. But, dammit, Barbera was just meant to grow in the hills he farmed in the iron-rich arid Monferrato region near Asti. Every year his old vines produced grapes that were intensely flavored, richly textured and built to last. Could he help it if no one wanted them? Well, the thing is what goes around, comes around, and Barbera, once the source solely of local pride, is now the most widely planted and most popular grape in the region and it sells like hotcakes! Why not? A good Barbera has tons of character: deeply fruited, immediately accessible and always, no matter how ripe it gets, with plenty of life-giving acidity. And if there’s one better for the money than Bologna’s Montebruna, we’ve not tasted it. Alas, Giacomo did not live long enough to see his vision for Barbera’s success come to fruition (as it were), but his legacy lives on through the efforts of his daughter Raffaella, her brother Giuseppe and her German husband Norbert Reinisch who have not only kept the flame alive but nourished it. The name Braida (Giacomo’s longtime nickname) is now synonymous with Asti Barbera and Montebruna, the name given to the conglomeration of vineyards Giacoma assembled in Rocchetta Tanaro, is the standard bearer for the region. Don’t let its relatively modest price confuse you, this is some smoking good Barbera that, as one reviewer wrote ‘is an ecstatic wine that leaps from the glass with the speed of an Olympic sprinter.’ Hyperbole? Perhaps a bit. But I do know that your red sauced pizzas and pastas, risottos and even burgers from the grill will thank you over and over again when paired alongside this dark, dusky, deeply fruited Barbera. And your pocketbook won’t mind either!

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Not convinced? Come join us for the tasting today!
Today, October 25^th- An Evening in Piemonte with Giacomo Bologna-Braida
5:30- 7: 30 PM
Join us as Norbert pours a selection of Braida favorites including the transcendent Bricco dell’Uccellone, one of the world’s most dynamic expressions of Barbera, as well as some off-beat rarities like Braida’s delicious Timorasso and the delightfully sweet bubbly Brachetto.
Come as you are- no tickets or reservations required.
Pouring for your pleasure:
2023 Langhe Nascetta ‘La Regina
2022 Grignolino d’Asti ‘Limonte’
2023 Barbera del Monferrato ‘La Monella’
2021 Barbera d’Asti ‘Montebruna’
2020 Barbera d’Asti ‘Bricco dell’ Uccellone’
2023 Brachetto d’Aqui