Discovering Italy’s Finest Wine Values

by Antonio Galloni

Preparing the Best Values issue is always something I look forward to with much excitement. In fact, I get much more satisfaction and pleasure from finding a great budget-priced wine than I do tasting a high-flying wine from one of Italy’s famous regions. After all, a $50 or $100 bottle of wine should be great, but finding a delicious budget-friendly wine takes a lot more work. Even with a very weak US dollar, readers will find a veritable treasure trove of great, inexpensive wines from Italy. In order to make this article easier to navigate, I have divided coverage into four main areas that mirror my broader coverage; Piedmont, Tuscany, Northern Italy, and Central/Southern Italy.

Seeking out the best values often means looking beyond the most coveted varieties and regions. Of course, this plays perfectly to the strengths of a country with somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 indigenous grape varieties, most of which remain undiscovered by consumers on a wide scale. In addition, consider the diversity of Italy’s wine-producing regions, which encompass everything from the dry, desert-like heat of Sicily all the way to the Alpine microclimates of Alto Adige, and everything in between. Add to that a series of strong vintages, and the marketplace today is literally awash with hundreds of compelling wines that can be had for $25 or less, yet will deliver tremendous pleasure.

Given the immense wealth of diversity today’s consumer faces, it is only natural that readers’ attention gravitates towards the highest scoring wines. I urge readers to avoid that temptation and look beyond the scores to read the actual tasting notes as well. The simple fact is that not every wine in the world can be a 90+ point wine. I have spent several months scouring through hundreds of bottles to find the best values in Italian wine, and personally I would be thrilled to drink any of the wines in this article on any day of the week.

Readers are likely to find wines from 2007 and 2006 on retailers’ shelves. 2007 was a freakish year in Italy. There was no winter and virtually no rain in many regions. Temperatures remained warm into the spring, when for the first time in living memory, fruit trees and vegetables were all a full month ahead of schedule. Towards the end of the summer temperatures moderated, but that was only helpful to late-ripening varieties. Broadly speaking 2007 is more successful for reds than whites. The whites are more variable as in some cases the grapes didn’t develop their usual levels of aromatic complexity. The 2007 reds don’t seem to suffer from the same issues. By comparison, it is awfully hard to go wrong with anything in 2006. It is an exceptional vintage in terms of quality and consistency for both white and reds. Generally speaking, the wines are ripe and generous, but also beautifully balanced. It is hard to find a region in Italy that didn’t make great wines in 2006.

Last but not least, a word on pricing is in order. Where possible I have quoted the official retail pricing provided by the US importer, which assumes that every layer in the distribution chain takes a full mark-up. In this challenging economic environment that will often not be the case, and many of these wines may be available for lower prices, particularly in intensely competitive markets. I have chosen to include a handful of wines that are slightly above our $25 threshold because exchange rate volatility has temporarily pushed the wines above this level. Pricing in other countries, of course, will vary. In one of the more fascinating recent trends in Italian wine, several of the larger importers have begun producing wine under their own labels. With retail prices in the $10 range, the wines often offer excellent quality for the money. As consumers trade down in tough economic times, this price point becomes increasingly appealing, and these importers are well-positioned to essentially own large chunks of this market segment, at the expense of some of the better-known and more- expensive brands they represent. It will be interesting to see how this new market dynamic unfolds.