Riddle me this: What is the beginning of eternity, the end of time and space, the beginning of every end and the end of every race? It’s the letter ‘E’! The Alpha Box & Dice ‘Alphabet of Wine’ has landed on ‘E’ for ‘Enigma’, a puzzle well worth solving, as a puzzle has many sides, only some visible at first, but the more you look, the more will be revealed. Barbera is the enigmatic grape variety here. Thought to have originated in the hills of Piemonte, it’s high in acid, low in tannins, tricky in the vineyard, tricky in the winery, but by the beard of Zeus does it ever shape-shift into a soif-alicious drink in the glass when all the panels of the vinous Rubik’s Cube align. If you are a fan of Barolo or Barbaresco, you will find many of its attendant charms here, with rose petal aromas and red cherry fruit mellowed by long-ageing in barrel (30 months in a seasoned puncheons), so the texture is downy soft. 14.9% alc. Drink now-2035.