Italian red-wine grape that can produce marvelous wines but that has become so plentiful in some of the hotter growing regions around the world that its image is beginning to tarnish. Barbera wines from these hotter areas—such as southern Italy and California’s SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY—have higher ALCOHOL and ACIDITY. Because they’re low in flavor, they’re primarily used as BLENDING WINES. Superior Barbera wines can exhibit a ripe currant flavor with a nuance of SMOKINESS. Five DOCs in Italy’s PIEDMONT region produce the most noteworthy Barbera wines. BARBERA D’ALBA makes wines that are 100 percent Barbera, while BARBERA D’ASTI, Barbera del MONFERRATO, Colli Toronesi, and Rubino di Cantavenna may produce BLENDS. Good Barbera wines are also made by the DOCs of OLTREPÒ PAVESE in Lombardy and COLLI BOLOGNESI and COLLI PIACENTINI in Emilia (look for “Gutturnio” on the label). The PIEDMONT region uses Barbera grapes to produce Verbesco, a light, DRY, slightly effervescent (FRIZZANTE) white wine made as a BLANC DE NOIR.