Edward Deitch Wine columnist • E-mail

In the Piedmont region of northern Italy, barbera plays second fiddle, overshadowed by the great nebbiolo grape used to make such famous wines as Barolo and Barbaresco, which command prices that reflect their stature and require years of aging to be appreciated in their prime.

But if you're on a budget and don't want to wait, like most of us, barbera provides a far less expensive option that's ready to drink quickly. It's the everyday wine of Piedmont, but when it hits its mark it, too, can be superb.

That's the case with the 2005 Barbera d'Alba from Giacomo Borgogno, a major producer of Barolo based in the famous town of the same name in the Alba zone, the most well known part of Piedmont.

Giacomo Borgogno & Figli

While the web site wine-searcher.com (check this out if you haven't) lists Borgogno Barolos going back to the 1960s and 70s, at prices up to $170 a bottle, Borgogno's '05 Barbera d' Alba can be found for as little as $12.

Yes, we are talking here about apples and oranges, or at least two very different grapes in nebbiolo and barbera. But the barbera is a delightful wine — among the best of the variety I've tasted — and a real bargain. (It made my list of this year's top wines.)

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One of the things that I like about barbera is that it is naturally high in acidity. That, combined in this case with gorgeous ripe fruit, results in wine that is bright, refreshing and mouthwatering — in other words, a superb wine for food.

Yes, it's young (it will become a bit rounder in a year or two), but that's a virtue here. For me, its strength is in its freshness and beautiful fruit tastes. Those tastes include black cherry and raspberry, along with touches of mocha and cedar from a few months of oak aging. The wine has good complexity and an appealing earthiness.

Enjoy it with strongly flavored foods such as red pasta sauces, pork and chicken dishes and even full-flavored fish like bluefish and tuna.

Borgogno, by the way, has been making wine since 1848. The experience and the tradition show well in its charming Barbera d' Alba. This one will be hard to beat. It's imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Syosset, N.Y.

Edward Deitch's wine column appears Wednesdays. He welcomes comments from readers. Write to him at

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