Finding value: smart picks from Italy’s top producers

Italy’s top estates are renowend for producing wines that set benchmarks for their respective regions – and even for the wine-producing world at large – but their flagship bottles often come with sizeable price tags.

Scroll down tasting notes and scores for top value wines from Italy’s top producers

However, these producers are considered some of Italy’s best for a reason, so if you want an insight without splashing out for the top labels then it’s often worth picking up another wine in the range at a more affordable price.

Below I have highlighted some examples from across Italy where a producer’s star quality shines through at all levels. It’s certainly not an exhaustive list, but most of these wines have good availability and represent a perfect starting point before delving into the harder-to-find and more expensive wines.

Top value Italian wines from the best producers: Region by region

Trentino-Alto Adige

The elevated altitudes of Trentino-Alto Adige produce deliciously fresh wines from a variety of grapes; mostly a combination of international and Germanic varieties, as well as some indigenous varieties such as Schiava. The region is defined by its large proportion of co-operatives.

Cantina Tramin

This co-operative sources grapes from 190 winegrowing families. It makes wines from several varieties, including a number of Gewürztraminer bottlings: its Epokale Gewürztraminer was the first Italian white wine to be awarded 100 points by Robert Parker. If you want a taste of the estate’s potential quality at a lower price, the Troy Chardonnay is a unique Alpine expression that displays masses of complexity and will age for years.

Friuli-Venezia Giulia

This northeastern corner of Italy is home to some delicious wines. Over three-quarters of production here is white wine: Friulano is the region’s key indigenous variety, with Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Bianco also featuring. Friuli doesn’t yet have the pulling power of more prestigious regions, despite the fact that two of the producers based here – Gravner and Jermann – are among Italy’s best.

Gravner

Credited with leading the natural wine charge in Italy before it became trendy around the world, Josko Gravner makes excellent and highly-regarded wines using lengthy periods of skin contact and fermentation in large amphorae. None are cheap, but his Ribolla is the ‘value’ pick of Gravner’s lineup.

Jermann

Jermann’s Vintage Tunina was first released in 1975 to critical acclaim. Today the winery makes a range of wines from both indigenous and international varieties, and its Vinnae Ribolla Gialla is a fantastic introduction to the fresh, clean, mineral lines that denote the Jermann style.

Piedmont

Piedmont is renowned – and rightly so – for its Barolos and Barbarescos made from the Nebbiolo grape. But far from being a mono-varietal region, Piedmont is host to a wonderful array of grapes, from the largely unknown Timorasso and Pelaverga to international varieties such as Chardonnay. Many Barolo and Barbaresco producers also bottle other Nebbiolos under labels such as Langhe Nebbiolo and Nebbiolo d’Alba, and this is where the best value lies.

Bruno Giacosa

Giacosa’s reputation is pretty much insurmountable when it comes to Italian fine wine, and his passing in January 2018 was a huge loss for the wine world. The estate’s red-label Falletto Riserva Barolo has achieved cult status – and cult prices – but there is value elsewhere in the range: the Valmaggiore Nebbiolo d’Alba is sourced from a prestigious vineyard in Roero and provides a glimpse of the estate’s magic.

GB Burlotto

Based in Verduno and founded in 1850, GB Burlotto’s most notable wine is its Monvigliero Barolo which is admired for its perfume and concentration – an incredible wine, but not wallet friendly. Try instead the estate’s expression of the rare Pelaverga red variety, which hints at the flagship’s beautiful aromatics.

Pio Cesare

The only winery to be based in the town of Alba itself, Pio Cesare has a long and successful history, and its single-vineyard Barolo bottlings are among the appellation’s finest examples. In addition to these fine Nebbiolos, the estate also produces two Chardonnays, and L’Altro offers the better value of the two. It is partially stainless steel-matured and incorporates a small amount of Sauvignon Blanc.

Veneto

The Veneto is a powerhouse for bulk wines, yet is also home to some of the wine world’s most recognisable labels. One of the best known Italian wine styles – Amarone – is renowned for its unique richness derived from the appassimento method.

Tommasi

Tommasi is one of the foremost producers of Amarone della Valpolicella, and has been producing wines from its winery in Valpolicella Classica for just shy of 120 years. Its Ca’ Florian Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Riserva is made from a selection of grapes from the estate’s best vineyard. On the opposite end of the spectrum from rich Amarone, Tommassi also produces Le Fornaci, a bright, floral wine from the Lugana appellation on the shores of Lake Garda.

Tuscany

Tuscany’s rolling landscape is home to a disproportionately large number of Italy’s top producers: from Ornellaia and Le Pupille to Sesti and Querciabella. Land of the SuperTuscans, the best wines often utilise international varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, while the region’s key DOCGs of Chianti Classico, Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano express Sangiovese in its purest forms.

Gaja

Gaja made its name with its haunting Barbarescos, pioneering a new style made by fermenting in temperature-controlled stainless steel and ageing in small oak barriques. The family now also owns two wineries in Tuscany (Pieve Santa Restituta, Ca’Marcanda) and has a joint venture with Alberto Graci in Etna. While the Barbarescos need to be tasted at some point in your wine journey, it’s worth starting with something a bit more affordable. The Ca’ Marcanda Promis is a blend of Merlot, Syrah and Sangiovese from the estate’s vineyards in Bolgheri and Bibbona.

Il Marroneto

Alessandro Mori’s Madonna delle Grazie is only made in the best years. Sourced from a 1.6ha site, it’s a deliciously elegant and complete wine, and is easily one of Brunello’s best wines. Il Marroneto also produces a Rosso di Montalcino, which is an excellent way to experience the estate’s style before digging deep into your pockets. Fermented in stainless steel rather than Madonna’s oak, it is then matured for eight months in large casks from from Allier and Slovenia, compared to 41 months for Madonna delle Grazie.

Le Pupille

Le Pupille’s first wine was a Morellino di Scansano Riserva, not the SuperTuscan Saffredi it is now best known for. A blend of Sangiovese with a splash of Cabernet, the Morellino di Scansano Riserva is still made today and it’s a delicious wine, although the denomination certainly isn’t the most glamorous in all Tuscany. Matured in large Slavonian oak barrels previously used to hold Saffredi, it combines concentration, ripeness and freshness to great effect.

Michele Satta

Michele was one of the founding members of the Bolgheri appellation, and he specialises in making wines – mostly blends – from Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot, Sangiovese and Teroldego. His Bolgheri Rosso is a blend of all the aforementioned varieties, and as such it represents the estate and the appellation pretty well – at a fraction of the price of his best wines.

Ornellaia

One of Italy’s most famous SuperTuscans, there’s not much more that can be said about the estate’s grand vin. Other wines in the range risk being overlooked, from the sweet Ornus to the Sauvignon Blanc-based Poggio alle Gazze, but the best wine to give you a glimpse of the flagship wine at a fraction of the price is the second wine of Ornellaia, Le Serre Nuove.

Querciabella

One of Italy’s earliest adopters of organic and biodynamic farming practises, Querciabella is best known for its Camartina SuperTuscan – a blend of Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon – however its Chianti Classico is also excellent. Fresh, focused and elegant, it has benefitted from a reduced oak influence in the last few vintages.

Sesti

Sesti’s Brunellos often rank among the very best. Made following organic and biodynamic principles, the ‘normal’ version is a classic take on elegant Brunello, while the Phenomena Riserva uses the best lots and ages them for longer in Slavonian oak. Sesti’s Rosso di Montalcino is equally adept, however, and despite coming from the warm southern sector of Montalcino it displays impressive freshness, with deliciously pure and elegant Sangiovese cherry fruit.

Tua Rita

Redigaffi is Tua Rita’s 100% Merlot SuperTuscan, admired for its opulent, hedonistic traits balanced by fresh acidity. The estate makes a number of other wines – including the relatively new amphora-aged Syrah, Keir – but a good place to start is with the Rosso dei Notri, a blend of the four varieties the estate works with.

Basilicata

Basilicata is a region that would be easy to forget, such are its tiny production volumes – it has just four DOCs and one IGP and produces fewer than one million cases annually. However, its volcanic soils have made a star of Aglianico del Vulture Superiore, the region’s only DOCG, which produces red wines to rival Italy’s best reds.

Paternoster

Paternoster is one of Basilicata’s leading producers, specialising in Aglianico. The estate’s flagship, Don Anselmo Aglianico del Vuture is made from the oldest vines (50+ years). But Paternoster also produces an absolutely delicious Falanghina that deserves to be enjoyed.

The best value buys from Italy’s top producers:

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