Alberto Ibrahimi pours his heart out.Photo: Melissa Hom
When Alberto Ibrahimi, the owner of Bar-bo-ne, talks to us about wine, he never says anything about bottles, vineyards, or even regions. Everything is about “the grape.” He’s bent on introducing his customers to regional wines made from indigenous Italian grapes. Two more debut tonight: Massaretta, a Tuscan variety which grows only around the city of Massa and which he describes, lovingly, as having “a deep red, ruby color, with ripe plums and prunes” (order the Cima Massaretta); and asprinio, a white Campagna grape (Villa Carafa Asprinio di Aversa). He says the latter is “very rare, almost unknown here.” The unknown is becoming Ibrahimi’s trademark: “Regulars don’t even look at the list anymore.”
