Solid Mudgee Barbera from First Ridge but is it enough?

It’s easy to forget thet Mudgee has some of the oldest plantings of Italian winegrapes in Australia. Sangiovese, Barbera & Nebbiolo were all planted at the old Montrose vineyards by pioneering Italian winemaker Carlo Corino back in the 70s. There’s history there. But ‘The Mudge’ hasn’t carried the baton further, instead choosing Shiraz & Cabernet to be the regional heroes. This First Ridge Barbera 2022, from a vineyard planted in 1998 (James Manners makes the wines), is a reminder that the Italian force is still strong in Mudgee land, even though this red seems a bit too much. Indeed, that’s the problem here: the flavours dive too far into tarry cherry plum ripe fruit and fruitcake headiness. There’s some sausagey complexity here, but the palate gets a bit hard and compressed even if there are acres of purple berry fruit. This big berried boy isn’t a bad wine, but maybe this is part of the challenge with a $48 Mudgee Barbera – there is pressure to make reds of impact? Less would be more.

THE VERDICT

• Best drinking: nowish
• Score (out of 20): 17
• Score (out of 100): 90
• Alcohol %: 14.8
• RRP (in $AUD): 48
• Winery website: https://www.firstridge.com.au/
• Would I buy it?: a glass max