05 Produttori del Barbaresco, Langhe Nebbiolo

Funny how those of us who believe in terroir want to make it so limiting. Pommard tastes like this and that's different than Monthelie. Napa is not Carneros. And so on. But sometimes, a wine just tastes like it's from over there--an almost measurably familiar taste that confuses us because we drink too much. The Produttori commune's table wine from Piedmont is this way--ostensibly a few oaky steps beneath pure Barolo and Barbaresco (declassified as the nebbiolo grape from the Langhe region), but just as reminiscent of a generous Cotes-du-Rhone or Nimes from Southeastern France. Could there even be some tart sangiovese blended in? And with wines like this--ones that show off an Old World elegance, simple flavors like Bing cherry, strawberry, and touches of minerally tar--there is a sense of place. Bigger, sure, than the sense of place you'd get from a single vineyard or single block wine, but place all the same.