The wine for BBQ pork ribs -- Barbera

Here's what I had on July 4: 2002 L'Uvaggio di Giacomo "Il Gufo" Lodi Barbera.
I made pork ribs on my water smoker, probably for the last time as it melted a circuit in the controller.
I have some sauce from King's Taste barbecue in Eustis, Florida. This used to be my favorite rib shack, though I fear the quality has gone down since it was sold a few years ago. The sauce still seems the same, though -- it's mustard-based, includes margarine as an ingredient and does not need refrigeration. It's thin, a little watery, slightly vinegary, somewhat spicy and highly addictive.
It's also death on red wines: "vinegary" and "spicy" are two food adjectives that will turn your 95-point Cabernet into a harshly hot and sour beverage to endure.
Yet with meaty, succulent pork ribs, I want red wine. I know a good rosé would be the way to go, especially on a hot day. But I just wanted to drink a red.
So I reached into the cellar for this wine, and it turned out to be perfect.
Barbera has great natural acidity and rarely turns out to be huge on the palate. Barbera grows well in hot weather -- as in its native home in central Italy. It's a food-friendly varietal without pretension.
Jim Moore is the owner/winemaker for L'Uvaggio di Giacomo, and I'm a big fan of his wines. He's an industry veteran who specialized in Italian varietals for Robert Mondavi Winery for a while in the early 1990s. Now he's kind of an itinerant winemaker who has a hard time holding onto jobs. I think it's because he doesn't buy into the arms race that is Napa winemaking. Jim Moore's wines aren't bigger and bolder than his neighbor's; they tend to be balanced and food-friendly.
He got 90 percent of the grapes for this wine from the Schatz vineyard in Lodi. Rodney Schatz is a leader in the growers' association out there and knows what he's doing. The remaining 10 percent includes some Syrah and some old-vine Nebbiolo.
This wine was probably at its peak. The aromas are mostly of dried fruit: dried cherries and plums, with some notes of fresh cherry, old leather, citrus fruit skin and steel. On the palate you get a lot of dried cherries and mineral with vibrant acidity that gives it follow through. This wine doesn't linger in the mouth. It's light-medium-bodied and well-balanced, with some sandy tannins for texture. It's simply a great food wine, tasting delicious and clearing the palate for the next bite.
I don't usually finish the bottle, but this wine disappeared relatively quickly, and at a restrained-for-California 13.5 percent alcohol it left no bad memories. So thanks, Jim Moore, for a great holiday wine. And happy birthday, America. Those old vines look very becoming on you.