One of the main paywall features of Opening a Bottle is the robust section of editorial called the Essential Winemakers of Italy. Here, I provide in-depth insights on roughly 50 of the most vital, compelling and intriguing Italian wineries, with one caveat: their wine must be consistently excellent, vintage after vintage. (I have a companion list for France, as well).
Reviewing the Greats
This of course means that I have to stay on my toes, not only to scout new entrants for the list, but to consistently re-evaluate those who have been touted for years. It is an exciting thing to taste a producer’s wines and be reminded of their greatness. Better yet: to see a new detail in their legacy that’s worth calling out to my readers. When this happens, I add a renewal date to their profile page, and devote a column to them called Still Essential.
What happens when they don’t pass muster? More often than not, “delisting” a winery from my curated collection has more to do with another winery outshining an existing one. Case in point: I recently came to the conclusion, after years of tasting their respective wines, that Adami outclasses everyone I’ve tasted in Prosecco, including Bisol, who had been the lone Prosecco entrant. Rather than removing Bisol, their page is kept live — for the insights still hold and are useful to readers — and I change their designation to what I call Essential Emeritus. (No, I didn’t test that title with a focus group. It just seemed to fit).
Well, this year has been so busy with these evaluations — plus a forthcoming book project — that I have fallen behind on the Still Essential column and have decided to consolidated months worth of work into this one article here, explaining why the following seven wineries remain firmly planted on my list.
Colombera & Garella
Who says age-worthy wines can’t be pleasurable in youth?
Where: Alto Piemonte (Piedmont)
Appellations: Bramaterra DOC and Lessona DOC
Who says age-worthy wines can’t be pleasurable in youth?
In the verdant foothills of the alps northeast of Turin, you’ll find a very different kind of Nebbiolo country. Comprised of nine protected designations of origin, the Alto Piemonte has long been a beloved jewel for Italian wine cognoscenti. Most of the spotlight is absorbed by the denominations that have earned a DOCG level — Gattinara and Ghemme — but as we so often find in Italian wine, the G really only guarantees specificity and not quality.
In the Bramaterra DOC, Nebbiolo (which is called Spanna here) is only required at a minimum of 50%, which the remaining blend can include Croatina up to 30% as well as Vespolina. In practice, many of these wines are more heavily weighted toward Spanna, but it is because of this that Bramaterra has been known for lighter red wines that are playful and juicy on the palate.
Yet by many accounts, even with this loose blending regulations and lower alcohol levels, Bramaterra can go the distance and age for decades. Much of this is attributed to its unique soil of volcanic deposits and marine sand, which fosters a radiant acidity that never tires. In Cristiano Garella and his partner, Giacomo Colombera, Bramaterra has a key advocate.
Garella has long been known as one of Alto Piemonte’s most vocal proponents, and his enological skill has garnered him accolades for some time. My first encounter with Colombera & Garella’s wines was in 2018, and they’ve been a mainstay on the list since then. I recently sought the Bramaterra once again for inclusion in my forthcoming book, Opening a Bottle of Italy, and it confirmed what I first felt long ago: this is Nebbiolo at its most flirtatious. But I also understood something new about these wines, which is how well structured and balanced they are. “Fine wine” comes in many forms, and its a delight to reframe what that definition is by touting such wines as those from Colombera & Garella.
Spotlight: 2019 Colombera & Garella “Cascina Cottignano” Bramaterra
A well-versed wine obsessive might see the 2019 “Cascina Cottignano” (★★★★★) as a Nebbiolo in the clothing of Beaujolais’ Fleurie. That earthiness on the nose and the way the acidity dashes across the palate certainly speak to the former, which accounts for 80% of this blend; but there is also an agile structure to this wine which seems to accentuate a trio of rose, violet and linden flowers. As the wine opens up, the fruit seems to get more enticing, more supple and more open. There are zero hard edges to the tannins, and by the time you reach the mineral finish, you’ll see what Bramaterra and its unique sense of place is all about.
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G.D. Vajra
“It’s the expression of those cooler nights that we seek.”
Giuseppe Vajra
Where: Langhe (Piedmont)
Appellations: Barolo DOCG, Barbera d’Alba DOC and Dolcetto d’Alba DOC
One of the most eloquent winemakers I’ve talked to this year is Giuseppe Vajra of the esteemed Barolo estate, G.D. Vajra. G.D. Vajra never misses the mark. Every wine from them I’ve tasted — well, more like “voraciously consumed” — has not only earned high marks, but been immediately irresistible. There is no waiting period or nervous energy to sort out. Their wines simply show up and astonish.
In talking with Giuseppe, I now know a little bit more as to why they have this character.
The landmark vineyard here is Bricco delle Viole, the highest cru in the Barolo zone, and in Vajra’s version, it is arguably one of the top 5 single-cru expressions of Barolo.
From this single vineyard, Vajra seeks inspiration to permeate every one of his other wines. “It’s the expression of those cooler nights that we seek,” he said on a virtual tasting back in March. Cooler nights, he added are “a big relief” for Nebbiolo grapes, as they provide protection for the fruit, preserve phenolic ripening, and avoid the breaking down of acidity. “And that is the style of energy that is deep into the soul of everything we do.”
I was talking with a Master Sommelier candidate at a trade tasting this summer here in Denver, and G.D. Vajra came up. I was noting how expertly refined every one of their wines were from this tasting, and how even the Dolcetto was a fine wine. The somm, who owns a wine shop, said “I think Vajra is the world’s best winemaker.” Better than anyone out of Burgundy? I asked. He nodded his head. “To work with as many grapes as Vajra does, in a place as challenging as the Langhe, and to do all of them at that level … who else is doing that much?”
Well, when you put it that way …
Spotlight: 2020 G.D. Vajra Coste di Rose Barolo
Tired of waiting forever for Barolo wines to round out into form? Look no further than this perfect young Barolo from the Coste di Rose cru (★★★★★). It’s beauty begins and ends with the aromas, which are magnificently floral and tinged with black fruit, hints of tobacco leaf, leather and an incredibly pure line of Nebbiolo earthiness. The flavors seem compact and tightly woven at this stage, yet they remain accessible and open to interpretation from the taster. All of it is carried on a lightweight frame. Silky, juicy, supple and forthcoming already. The tannins may be big and effective, but they take a backseat to what’s at center stage: the fruits, the flowers and the earth. With this wine, there is no mistaking what you are drinking and where you are drinking it from: Nebbiolo from Barolo.
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Selvapiana
“This is like the Conco d’Oro of Rufina.”
Federico Giuntini
Where: Central Tuscany
Appellations: Chianti Rufina DOCG and Pomino DOC
Federico Giuntini Archivi does not bullshit. As the longtime director of Fattoria Selvapiana in Chianti Rufina, Giuntini is frequently on the road promoting his historic estate’s wines — as he was doing Friday here in Denver, with his importer Dalla Terra Winery Direct. But in the handful of times I’ve interviewed Giuntini — including a visit to his Tuscan estate in March 2022 — I have never heard him boast, or utter an overstatement of any kind. It’s just not his style. Giuntini lets his wines do the talking, and in an interesting way, I feel that sense of quiet confidence reflected across his portfolio time and time again.
And it’s not like Chianti Rufina sells itself as Brunello di Montalcino or even Chianti Classico does. This small region — technically a sub zone of the vague Chianti DOCG — is a little-known jewel of mountain terroir, where Sangiovese sings with a beautiful mezzo-soprano voice. There are only 22 growers in the region, of which only a handful are widely available. I tasted many of them together at this year’s L’Altra Toscana event, and Selvapiana not only offers the most focused wines, but also the clearest range. To me, it is vitally important that the Tuscany chapter of the Essential Winemakers of Italy section reflect the diversity of Sangiovese. Selvapiana’s mezzo-soprano voice continue to anchor an important part of the spectrum.
Spotlight: 2018 Selvapiana Vigneti Erchi Chianti Rufina Riserva
“This is like the Conco d’Oro of Rufina,” Giuntini told me and Scott Thomas of Grappolo Food & Wine School Friday when we tasted the Vigneti Erchi (★★★★ 3/4) together. Sometimes in a region like Rufina, it is necessary to draw parallels to other zones, and the Conco d’Oro — a famed section of Chianti Classico’s Panzano village — is known for capturing the sun in beautiful ways.
The fruit from this single-vineyard in the southern stretches of the zone — to extend my vocal analogy — is mezzo-soprano forte. We tasted the 2017 and 2018 together, and I’m listing the current release here. Both wines are beautiful, with a lovely sense of movement that one might call minerality, and fine but firm tannins that hold together the Sangiovese calling card flavors of cherry fruit, orange citrus and resinous herbs. I also noticed a beautiful floral aroma, akin to violets, which felt unique.
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Il Marroneto
The genius of Il Marroneto’s winemaker, Alessandro Mori, shows in the patience of his wines and how they unfold evenly on the palate.
Where: Southern Tuscany
Appellations: Brunello di Montalcino DOCG
The genius of Il Marroneto’s winemaker, Alessandro Mori, shows in the patience of his wines and how they unfold evenly on the palate. Brunello di Montalcino is not known for this trait: recent vintages can seem brash, forceful and untamed, their traces of elegance wound up tight in a compact structure. “Come back in a decade,” says the sign taped to the door.
But in Mori’s 2019 Brunello di Montalcino, I experienced once again how he “seasons” his wines, to use his phrase from the giro di botti I completed with his guidance in his cellar two years ago. Read that article for full details, but the general gist is that Mori moves his wines from one huge oak cask to the next frequently, hoping to impart a little bit of character from each one. It’s a dangerous process that only a meticulous and steady-hand can pull off, and while the resulting wine feels like a polished stone on the palate, it still somehow has the gravitas of Brunello.
I am not yet ready to give Mori — or anyone for that matter — a lifetime appointment to this list. But he is in the upper, upper echelon with half a dozen other winemakers who make the case for it (BTW: so is G.D. Vajra and Azienda Agricola Biondi below).
This is an expensive wine (around $150/bottle retail), but every Italian wine lover needs to encounter it at least once in their life. High rollers might gravitate to the $400+ single-vineyard Madonna della Grazie instead, but I am here to tell you that the main Brunello di Montalcino is far from being a “second wine.”
Spotlight: 2019 Il Marroneto Brunello di Montalcino
The Brunello di Montalcino is one of the best Sangiovese wines I’ve ever encountered (★★★★★). Perfectly elegant and aromatic even at this early stage of its gestation, it will only improve with proper storage. Can you wait five years? Ten years? I don’t know if I could. The aromas are evocatively suggestive of cherries and dried blueberry fruit as well as a tapestry of rosemary-leather-earthiness that comes at you all at once. Underneath it all lies a very faint, smoky-savory note that feels ever-so-Tuscan. But the real beauty lies in its shape-shifting qualities on the palate, and how it beautifully pulls in a latent earthy quality that Brunello and its Sangiovese cousins often conceals. The juiciness is at once sleek and silky, the tannins pert and fine-grained already, but there is some intriguing development still to come.
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The 2020 Benanti Lamoremio Etna Spumante Rosato Brut ©Kevin Day/Opening a BottleBenanti
“We are still embryonic [on Etna] in terms of our infrastructure.”
Salvino Benanti
Where: Eastern Sicily
Appellations: Etna DOC
In summary, Benanti’s wines are polished, always in control of their destiny, and perfectly indicative of the spectrum of wines coming from their territory: the broad-shouldered, diverse and volcanic slopes of Sicily’s Mount Etna. They make three exquisite sparkling wines, a single rosato, terroir-expressive Etna Rosso from four different contrada, two Etna Rosso Riserva from small old-vine parcels and — most notably — a fleet of Etna Bianco that are among the best white wines in Italy.
Earlier this year, I tasted for the first time in my career, Benanti’s most famous wine — the “Pietra Marina” Etna Bianco Superiore — and then this week, I kicked around the volcano’s various lava flows and vineyards with Salvino Benanti, one of two twin brothers who oversee the estate. The tasting that followed further confirmed Benanti’s standing in my book.
“Etna is rough,” he said early on as we drove past a vineyard on the south slope that he has helped restore, and from which he buys grapes from for his entry-level Etna Rosso. “If you come from a place like California or Oregon and they’re picture-perfect vineyards, what you don’t realize is that we are still embryonic [on Etna] in terms of our infrastructure.” While I find Etna to be a fully mature appellation producing some of Italy’s very best wines — red, white, rosé and even sparkling — Benanti’s ambition will always seem room for improvement: not only for his family’s winery, but the region as a whole. And it’s that “never satisfied” mantra that keeps them on top of their game challenging vintage after challenging vintage.
Spotlight: 2020 Benanti “Lamorèmio” Etna Spumante Rosato Brut
This wasn’t the highest scoring wine in my portfolio tasting with Salvino Benanti (that went to the Contrada Rinazzo Etna Bianco), but it was noteworthy to me how much better their spumante wines are compared to everyone else trying it in the Etna DOC.
“Lamorèmio” is a bright and lean — yet somehow also caressing and supple — traditional-method sparkling wine (★★★★ 3/4) made from younger Nerello Mascalese vines grown on the southern slope of Mount Etna. It sees 24 months on the lees, and the resulting wine is suggestive of bright strawberries and nutmeg-like spice, with a tinge of soft citric acidity and creaminess to lend balance.
I Custodi delle Vigne dell’Etna
The entire range of wines at I Custodi is spectacular, however it is a diverse cast of characters.
Where: Eastern Sicily
Appellations: Etna DOC
“The Guardians of Etna’s Vines” is not only the most romantically named winery on Mount Etna, it is also among its most important. Founded by Mario Paoluzi, an engineer from Rome in 2007, and forged in style over its many years by famed Etna whisperer, enologist Salvo Foti, this north-slope estate continues to impress with every encounter. Two weeks ago, I tasted their wines during the Etna Days technical tasting, and promptly requested a visit with Paoluzi later on my trip when I saw him at the producer spotlight that evening. He was happy to oblige.
Mario is beloved by many. Several times, when I mentioned that I’d be visiting I Custodi delle Vigne dell’Etna at the end of my visit, other producers praised him. Such a good man … and His passion is infectious. Whenever I extend an arm for a handshake with Mario, he grabs my hand over the thumb like we’re arm-wrestlers and gives it a good, muscular jostle, as if to say We’re in this together.
Personality aside though, his estate is really about capturing the magic of old vines and the mystical, black lava-encircled plots where they’ve been hiding out for decades, even centuries. We wrapped up my visit with a vineyard walk in a place called Saeculare, where a handful of 150-plus year-old Nerello Mascalese and Alicante (aka Grenache) vines thrive. For all the talk about low yields from old vines, I was amazed at how laden with grape clusters these beautiful, tree-like plants were. By now, just a week later, they’ve been harvested.
The entire range of wines at I Custodi is spectacular, however it is a diverse cast of characters. Identifying a common trait across wines, or even vertically through vintages within a singular bottling, can be tricky. But that’s part of the fun at I Custodi. These wines are wild, intense and free-wheeling, and I always know I am in for a compelling glass when I uncork one.
Spotlight: 2013, 2019 and 2020 I Custodi delle Vigne dell’Etna “Imbris” Etna Bianco Superiore
The one white wine that always seems to stand out the most at these Etna Days tasting is the Etna Bianco Superiore known as Imbris (★★★★★), which, given its east-slope origins, is fittingly named for the Latin phrase “of the rain.” Ironically for an old-vine specialist, this towering, vigorous, massively complex wine — which can at times resemble an aged Alsatian Pinot Gris with its pear-like fruit tones — comes from only 15-year-old vines. Such is the character of Milo and the Contrada Caselle that the wine’s acidity seems to sprint across the palate like Usain Bolt. This is curtailed and made to feel sumptuous by 30 months of lees contact before bottling, which adds a delicate ginger-meets-honeycomb flavor to the finish.
Three different vintages were tasted: the 2020 will be the new release, and it is already fully formed and beautiful. The 2019, every bit as delicious to my palate, has shifted into territory where it belongs with wine geeks seeking an intellectual exercise — there is just so much to unpack. Meanwhile, the 11-year-old 2013 reveals a saltier persistence and a mellow, orchestral complexity — an incredible display given that back then, the vines were essential infants.
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Azienda Agricola Biondi
“Ciro,” I said, “I feel like a poker player who was just dealt the first four cards and they’re all aces.”
Where: Eastern Sicily
Appellations: Etna DOC
At a special tasting for journalists at Azienda Agricola Biondi last week, the wind kept knocking over the breadsticks. Seated at the head of the table with an aura I can only call “self-confidence chill,” was architect-turned-winemaker Ciro Biondi, who has presided over this south-slope farm on Mount Etna since 1999. At these tastings, I try to keep my commentary to myself. Ask questions, analyze the wines, take notes, move on. But after the 2020 “Cisterna Fuori” Etna Rosso, I couldn’t help myself. “Ciro,” I said, “I feel like a poker player who was just dealt the first four cards and they’re all aces.”
He raised his eyebrows and smiled slightly, clearly satisfied with the compliment. But he had something more in store for us.
If Etna Rosso is to break into the upper echelon of prestige in Italian wine — a place really only occupied by Barolo and Brunello di Montalcino — it will need to have a proven track record with aging. Despite being one of the most ancient viticultural areas in Europe, its renaissance really only began in the 1990s with a handful of producers, and it really only gathered steam in the 2000s and 2010s. Today is a period of maturity, and with those 20 to 30 years behind us, there are a few wines we can evaluate to answer this question of longevity. But these bottles are very, very rare.
Ciro had two of them open for us. A 2007 he only made twice — called “M.I.” which hailed from a vineyard on an extinct crater nearby — and the 2000 “Outis” Etna Rosso. Today, this last wine’s name is reserved for his entry-level wine, but in the very beginning, all the vineyard fruit went into one cuvée.
Count me as “convinced” on the longevity of Nerello Mascalese. Today, my list of producers on the mountain I’d call “consistently good” is around 20, while another 10 are “stellar” (for the Essential Winemakers list, I have 3 as one level up from that, “essential” — listed here — but I’ll be adding a fourth soon). As Etna DOC matures and turns into the Etna DOCG in the coming years, more of these aged wines will get their assessment. Their may be some ups and downs given the volatility of the appellation and its wineries across the volcano in the late 2000s and early 2010s, but two things feel certain: (a) current vintages of Etna Rosso are a good bet for short-term cellaring, especially in the five to 12-year window, and (b) Ciro Biondi may be the most solid bet of all. This guy deals only aces.
Spotlight: 2000 Ciro Biondi Outis Etna Rosso
With 24 years of age, the energy of the 2000 “Outis” Etna Rosso (★★★★★) was still vital and pulsing with excitement. Every element tasted in the new-release 2022 was still there: some had merely transformed, others had moved to the foreground or background. For instance, one of the hallmarks of Ciro Biondi’s three Etna Rosso wines is a sense of deeply pure fruit. In the 2000 “Outis,” that cherry-like tone had shifted beautifully to evoke the flavors of dried strawberries while maintaining a sense of juiciness. Solidly earthy, with enticing dried orange peel aromatics to swoon over, I found the soft and silky texture of this aged “Outis” to be the deciding factor: Etna Rosso can age magnificently, especially in the hands of a capable winemaker.
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Caption of top photo: A view over Ciro Biondi’s Cisterna Fuori vineyard (foreground) and the San Nicolò vineyard rising up an ancient volcanic cone on the southeastern slope of Mount Etna.
