Best Value Italian Reds from Star Producers

When I started to get into wine seriously, the most available, affordable and understandable ‘grand vin’ was Bordeaux, and if the top cru classes were beyond the reach of an impoverished ex-student, the usual advice was to buy the second wines. You’d get a real flavour of the great wine at a fraction of the price. I remember with my flat mate organising a tasting of second wines of Lafite, Latour etc for a friend who wrote for the Tatler. We were in our late twenties.

Ironically, forty years later I am about back to the same place, except that I’m not sure the second wines offer good value anymore and I’ve pretty much turned my back on Bordeaux anyway (as have so many).

It started in 2005 when the premier crus (of Bordeaux) tripled their prices and callously left most of their loyal customers behind, presuming that the Asian tiger would more than suck up their newly inflated bottles. And so it did until the financial crash of 2008/9 and the fact that President Xi of China decided that he did not much appreciate his civil servants glugging down Lafite on expense accounts.  Suddenly those that had speculatively dived in to buy 2009 and 2010 en primeur were holding onto large losses and the top chateaux were dumbfounded when after spending so much money on glorious architecture (a new designer cellar room, a magnificent marble chai) and Chinese labels, the public turned away and Bordeaux bashing started.

Unfortunately, what then happened was that the world’s richest label buyers (many, yes, in Asia) then focussed on Burgundy which due to it’s tiny and limited production sent prices into orbit, dragging everywhere else behind.  Suddenly a couple of hundred euros for a bottle of whatever, seemed ‘good value’ when you looked at what little that would buy you in the hallowed villages of the Cote de Nuits. And someone would surely have scored it 95+.

Like many diehard Burgundy lovers, I had to change tack and set sail to the southeast and across the Italian border and the Alps into Piemonte.  The consequence was that the wonderful bottles of 2010 Mascarello, Rinaldi and Burlotto Barolo that I’d happily bought for 50-65 euros were 5 or 6 times that price when the 2020s arrived.  Good old supply and demand economics again. And even covid era inflation didn’t quite match a 500 or 600% increase.

So what to do for new wine lovers today, in an age when all you hear about on the television or radio is the diminishing buying power of everyone’s stagnating income? The vast majority of folk are not able or willing to fork out 300+ euros for a bottle of star producer Barolo. And with the rise of social media and wine score inflation that’s almost as rampant as the prices, we’ve ended up with a bevy of cult producers who do indeed make fabulous wine but at ever more fabulous prices. (Some sell to old customers for a tiny portion of the market price, but if you didn’t get an allocation 20 years ago, bad luck. I didn’t).

How do the young or less fortuned wine drinkers get to taste the likes of the 3 estates I just mentioned above?

Ah you say, remember your second wines!  When you are a genius in the cellar, everything you touch turns to gold. But does it?  If you believe in the importance of place (I try to avoid the word ‘terroir’) then even a genius cannot make silk out of nylon, but sadly the fact that their star name appears on the label tends to shift the price far too close to the silkier levels.

So as a gesture of seasonal good will I thought I’d pick the two most expensive regions in Italy (Barolo and Montalcino) and offer you just two wines from each. One that is indeed costly for its hierarchical level, but well worth it and gives you very much a serious taste of the grand vin, and one that is just (can you believe it?) half the price and worth far more.

For free. Call me Father Christmas.

So let’s start back in Barolo. If you look at the hierarchy there, it rises from generic Langhe Nebbiolo (ie the same grape as Barolo but from all over the region) to Barolo to Barolo with a single MGA (which is not a single vineyard but an area, as some MGAs, such as Bussia, are absolutely vast and contain many subregions).

Some growers, such as Bartolo (now Maria Teresa) Mascarello eschews the MGA route and their top wines is just one blended Barolo and Giuseppe (now his daughters) Rinaldi does both. Both estates offer Nebbiolo, and Italian red wine, at its very best. But, yes, at 350 euros and more…

I’m trying to be disciplined here, so I will not divert off into the non Nebbiolo grapes (such as Rinaldi’s excellent Barbera) which are a fraction of the Nebbiolo price, but his Langhe Nebbiolo aged 10 is easily the match of many a Barolo and exceeds them in elegance and class. Yes. it’s maybe twice the price of most LN, but it’s splendid and really does show you what Rinaldi Nebbiolo (ie Barolo) is like.

If we then head up north to the village of Verduno, we get to another historic and now cult winery, GB Burlotto. If you like Burgundy, Fabio’s Monvigliero MGA comes from the very northern outpost of the whole Barolo region, overlooking the Tanaro river as it snakes off to Barbaresco. It’s also uniquely foot trodden and whole cluster and just in a league of its own. Barolo meets Chambolle-Musigny…

Ok fine, but his 4 MGAs and even the generic Barolo are not within everyone’s price range, which leaves, of course, the Langhe Nebbiolo. But this one is about half the price of Rinaldi’s. I’m not sure it’s made to age as well, so perhaps less worthy of the ‘baby barolo’ epithet, but it showcases the floral aromatic elegance of the Burlotto wines. It’s just crazily good value, for now.

Very affordable Nebbiolo from one of Barolo's superstars

(Whilst in the region I can’t not mention two other rising stars who produce very reasonably priced Barolo and delicious and cheap Langhe Nebbiolo – Trediberri from la Morra and Margherita Otto from Monforte).

Time to head south then, to Montalcino and the mighty Brunello. Interestingly, if you look at prices and star ratings nowadays, the top of the league are no longer the father founder Biondi Santi and other venerable old wineries, but a completely new bunch.

If we put aside the late Gianfranco Soldera, who founded Case Basse in the 70’s and whose wines I have alas never tasted and very rarely even seen (and never will given the stratospheric prices), any list of today’s stars would probably include a bunch of real newbies: Stella di Campalto, Poggio di Sotto and Pian dell’ Orino. And following tight on their heels and the highest in the region, Le Ragnaie.

Again, the first is out of my price bracket, but the next three offer chances at glory. But I said I’d only pick two.

So let’s start with Poggio, a Brunello (and Riserva) that scale the heights of elegant, perfumed aromatics for Sangiovese. We are back to Monvigliero territory. Wild cherries and a bed of roses. But here it gets interesting as, just like Rinaldi, their ‘basic’ wine (the Rosso di Montalcino), yes it costs more than most (but is also far better) but at age 10 it’s so floral and lovely and really does give you a serious glimpse into the grand vin.  It is in fact made from Brunello vines (they select some casks for Brunello, some for Rosso) and is aged for a full two years in Slavonian oak. So if ever there was a ‘baby brunello’ this is it, and it’s worth every penny.

If we then climb up the hills outside Brunello to Le Ragnaie (their Passo del Lume Spento is the highest of Brunello vineyards at over 600 metres), we have another floral and elegant red fruited wine that ages for 2 years in large Slavonian oak and is delicious pretty much from release, and which costs a pittance. Again, crazily good value.

High altitude elegant floral Rosso from another star Brunello estate

I’m not an expert on wine prices, but to put things into context, here are some rough guidelines:

G. Rinaldi Barolo’s 350 euros. Langhe Nebbiolo 75 euros.

GB Burlotto Barolo <100 euros, Barolo Monvigliero 400 euros, Langhe Nebbiolo 40 euros.

Poggio di Sotto Brunello 200 euros. Their Rosso 70 euros.

Le Ragnaie single vineyard Brunello’s 140 euros. Rosso del Montalcino < 30 euros!

There you go, I hope that is useful. These really are lovely wines from some of the best winemakers in Italy and at prices that won’t leave you with a guilty hangover.

Happy Christmas and all the best for a better 2026.

 Postscript - ‘The Wine in My Glass’

After some encouragement and a fair few blog posts, I published (Sept 2025) a book about my travels in the wine world - the people, places and, of course, wines.  I am not a professional, so everything I say is objective and unbiased (so I can criticise when other journalists do not dare to do so for instance) and any profits will go to the Vendanges Solidaires association which was set up in 2016 to help winemakers who are in trouble after suffering the extreme weather conditions (frost, hail, fire, flood etc) which sadly are becoming ever more frequent: www.vendangessolidaires.com.

The book ranges from California to Sicily, via Salta, Jujuy and Patagonia in Argentina, Valtellina, Piemonte and Tuscany in Italy, Madeira and of course all over France (Burgundy, Chablis, Sancerre, Beaujolais, Bordeaux, the Rhone).

If you have found any pleasure and/or interest in this blog, I think you might enjoy it, especially as it has been brilliantly illustrated by Arabella Langlands-Perry who managed to juggle bringing up two young kids, helping run Maceo/Willi’s Wine Bar in Paris and producing artwork with an abundance of both talent and wit. Brava.

‘The Wine in My Glass – Tales of Wines, Winemakers and Places’

Published by The Medlar Press Limited, Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, autumn 2025. www.medlarpress.com       

https://medlarpress.com/bookstore/?store-page=The-Wine-in-My-Glass-p768838784

Available from Medlar in UK, and/or from me in France or Willis Wine Bar in Paris.

Price UK Pounds 26 from Medlar or 35 Euros. All profits to charity.