Winemaker Notes
Great with poultry or vegetable dishes, salami, pasta and fish.
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Here's an excellent recommendation if you are looking for a great-value white from Italy. The 2016 Roero Arneis is a fresh and zesty white wine with lean-bodied appeal. The bouquet offers zesty and green tones of lime, tropical fruit and peach. There is a lot of citrus as well. The wine offers a superior sense of definition and sharpness, thanks to those drying mineral tones that come with the unique Roero territory. The soils here are heavy with calcareous deposits that give sharpness and focus to the bouquet.
Rating: 90+
Yielding a dry and subtly scented wine, Arneis is the star white grape of Piedmont. Though the grape has been local to Roero since the 1400s, it didn’t experience real popularity until the 1980s when local demand for white wine exploded. Somm Secret—A few key Roero producers are also focusing on exploring the ageability of high quality Arneis. It is only grown outside of Piedmont to a very limited extent.
Even to this day, the Roero folklore lives on about witchcraft lurking behind its dramatic contours and obscure woods—but these stories only add to the region’s allure and charm. Actually today Roero winemakers are some of the most astute and motivated in Piedmont. While the white Arneis has attracted global attention for some time, now Roero Nebbiolo wines (elevated to the same DOCG status as Barolo and Barbaresco) are making a name for themselves. Keep an eye on any labeled with the vineyard, Valmaggiore, as Barolo producers have been investing here for years. If you’re looking for hidden gems, this is your region!