Top 20 Barolo alternatives

With big-name Barolos commanding a hefty price tag, where can wine lovers go for their Nebbiolo fix? Susan Hulme MW highlights alternative regions of Italy, from Alto Piemonte to Valtellina, where good-value Nebbiolo is worth seeking out...

Nebbiolo has become very popular in the past 15 years, particularly in its most famous expression of Barolo. Just like the leading châteaux of Bordeaux, some of Langhe’s ‘first growths’ have become investment wines. The best have an alluring perfume of dried roses, violets and tar, along with a bright, juicy acidity and assertive tannic backbone, producing taut wines with a fantastic ability to age. These are nervy, exciting wines, that have some of the bewitching perfume of Burgundy but with more edge and tannic bite.

Scroll down for Susan Hulme MW’s top 20 Barolo alternatives

Piedmont’s most famous names – such as Angelo Gaja, Giacomo Conterno, Bartolo Mascarello and Bruno Giacosa – are synonymous with excellence, but the demand for their wines has inflated prices and put them out of reach of many consumers. Conterno’s Monfortino Barolo Riserva 2000 now costs £650 per bottle in bond. Even looking at a more recent vintage, a Bartolo Mascarello, Barolo 2010 will typically set you back at least £350 ib a bottle. The fact is that most of us will never taste these wines.

Unlike with some other varieties, it is difficult to produce Nebbiolo on a budget. Daniele Dinoia from Villa Guelpa in Lessona explains: ‘If the wine has to cost £10 on the market, it means that I have to sell it from my cellar to the exporter at €2. It’s impossible for me. We are talking about Nebbiolo, which is a low-yielding grape.’So, in the search for good-value Nebbiolo, where does one look? Nebbiolo is notoriously fastidious about where it is grown and is one of the least-travelled grape varieties. It needs hillside locations, big temperature differences between day and night, and specific soils to be at its best. It is happiest in the Langhe around the villages of Barolo and Barbaresco, so it makes sense to start close to home.

Many Barolo producers make lighter wines intended for early drinking; often from famous vineyards but made from younger vines, they are sold as Langhe Nebbiolo or Nebbiolo d’Alba. They are a great introduction to a producer’s style, and are generally priced from £20 to £30.

Close cousins

Barbaresco, north of Barolo and within sight of the Tanaro River, is often regarded as being a more ‘feminine’ expression of Nebbiolo because the wines tend to mature faster than those of its neighbour. Compared to the average price of a bottle of Barolo, Barbaresco offers some great bargains. In a fantastic vintage such as 2016 some of the best producers offer great value wines.

Then there are the reds of Roero, grown on sandier soils and hilly locations. The wines are softer and rounder, with gentle tannins and often have flavours and aromas of strawberries warmed in the sun.

The beautiful and historic area of Alto Piemonte, about two hours’ drive north of Alba and centred around the town of Biella, includes the evocatively named sub-zones of Lessona, Bramaterra and Gattinara to the west of the Sesia river, and Boca, Ghemme and Fara. It has a long history of growing Nebbiolo (known locally as Spanna) and at one time the area had more hectares of Nebbiolo under vine than Langhe. In 2017, I attended a tasting of historic Alto Piemonte wines, the oldest being from 1842 and the youngest a 1965; there is no doubt these wines can age.

The location of Alto Piemonte in the foothills of the Alps means vineyards are at altitudes of 200m to 400m above sea level but protected from the cold winds from the mountains – though there is a big diurnal difference of between 10° and 15°C between day and night. All of this suits Nebbiolo, as it allows phenolic ripeness (tannins, flavour and aromas) to be closer to physical ripeness (sugar, and therefore potential alcohol accumulation).

These sites are now much sought-after as producers, witnessing the impact of climate change, look for cooler areas to plant. Recently, Roberto Conterno of Giacomo Conterno (for many critics the best Barolo producer) invested in Gattinara, buying a 90% share in Nervi, one of the oldest wineries in the area. Right now, it’s hot to be cool.

Geologically, Alto Piemonte is fascinating and varied. It contains the remains of an imploded super-volcano, now a UNESCO Global Geopark, so the soil – particularly in Gattinara and Bramaterra – contains a variety of intriguing igneous rocks such as porphyry and quartz. While they share similar soils, Bramaterra differs from Gattinara in allowing a greater percentage of other varieties to be used in its wines – up to 50% can be made up of Croatina, Uva Rara and Vespolina (believed to have a parent-offspring relationship with Nebbiolo). These blends produce much more robust, powerful, deeply coloured wines.

Over the border

By contrast, the sedimentary soil in Lessona is more obviously marine-based and very acidic. This produces highly aromatic Nebbiolo with a Burgundy-like richness of aromas, saline minerality and gentle, fine, sandy tannins. ‘Lessona wines always have a memory of the sea,’ claims Marco Rizzetti of Tenute Sella.

One outlier in our search for value Nebbiolo is the stunningly beautiful Valtellina valley in the Lombardy region of Italy, bordering Switzerland, with its sub-zones of Grumello, Inferno, Maroggia, Sassella and Valgella. Here the local name for Nebbiolo is Chiavennasca – in fact some even say the grape originated here and not in Piedmont. The wines can be beautifully delicate and ethereal, but the region also produces an amarone-style wine called sforzato (sfursat).

Rising prices and the fashion for Nebbiolo should encourage us all to broaden our search for value and discover those beautiful and historic areas such as Valtellina and Alto Piemonte, which Nebbiolo still calls home. Thankfully, there is life beyond Barolo.

See Susan Hulme MW’s top 20 Barolo alternatives

You may also like

Best Piedmont wines: Latest-release Barolo & Barbaresco

Barolo 2015: Vintage report and 89 wines rated

Barolo: Entering a new era, plus 12 of the best worth seeking out

Top Barolo 2008 wines: Panel tasting results