Winemaker Notes
Pair with roast red meats, game and mature cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
New leather, baked plum, truffle and fruitcake aromas rise up from the glass. It's rounded and full bodied, with velvety tannins that underscore fig, steeped prune, cinnamon, graphite and chewing tobacco. Fresh acidity lifts the rich flavors. Drink through 2023.
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Wine Spectator
Beautifully aromatic, this red offers notes of kirsch, Christmas spice and orange peel that carry from the nose to the palate, where they are underscored by tarry mineral, dried fig and herb accents and layered with sculpted tannins. Rich and expressive, set in an elegant, medium-bodied frame. Drink now through 2027.
Responsible for some of the most elegant and age-worthy wines in the world, Nebbiolo, named for the ubiquitous autumnal fog (called nebbia in Italian), is the star variety of northern Italy’s Piedmont region. Grown throughout the area, as well as in the neighboring Valle d’Aosta and Valtellina, it reaches its highest potential in the Piedmontese villages of Barolo, Barbaresco and Roero. Outside of Italy, growers are still very much in the experimentation stage but some success has been achieved in parts of California. Somm Secret—If you’re new to Nebbiolo, start with a charming, wallet-friendly, early-drinking Langhe Nebbiolo or Nebbiolo d'Alba.
Containing an exciting mix of wine producing subregions, Lombardy is Italy’s largest in size and population. Good quality Pinot noir, Bonarda and Barbera have elevated the reputation of the plains of Oltrepò Pavese. To its northeast in the Alps, Valtellina is the source of Italy’s best Nebbiolo wines outside of Piedmont. Often missed in the shadow of Prosecco, Franciacorta produces collectively Italy’s best Champagne style wines, and for the fun and less serious bubbly, find Lambrusco Mantovano around the city of Mantua. Lugana, a dry white with a devoted following, is produced to the southwest of Lake Garda.