Nebbiolo lovers, rejoice. 

There is much to like about Piedmont's newly released vintages, which span from 2018 to 2021. This is especially true for the trio of 2019, 2020, and 2021. 

These last three vintages offer straightforward deliciousness and unusually early accessibility. While the very best wines will easily age up to 30 years and possibly longer, even the second-tier wines should evolve to benefit for a decade to 15 years or more. Based on what I learned at the Nebbiolo Prima tastings earlier this year in Alba and New York, you pretty much cannot go wrong with Barolo, Barbaresco, and Roero Riserva from this historic trifecta. More caution must be exercised with the 2018 Barolo Riservas, but careful selectivity will pay off.

As Riserva wines command higher prices and can be harder to find, specific wines are highlighted for these small production bottlings. For the normale wines, producers are listed as each often have many enticing wines in their line-ups.

N.B. Not all Piedmontese producers participate in Nebbiolo Prima events. These include many of the region’s very best producers. So as to not tire you with even longer lists, producers whose wines were not tasted are not included, save for a few Roero producers listed in the 2021 section to round out the small number of wines shown.

2021

The Growing Season

Vines started off with good water resources from a wet winter. Then an unusual, brutal frost swept across vineyards for three nights at the beginning of April. It blackened not only the low-lying portions of vineyards: strong winds forced the cold up the hills and through the valleys, damaging vines that usually remain unscathed. Crop losses ranged from 10 to 50 percent. Hail (from which Barbaresco was mostly spared) and hot temperatures followed in the summer. But after the stress-inducing first half of the year, August and September were dry, allowing the smaller crop to ripen nicely and fairly early.

The Barbarescos

There is excellent potential for these fresh, vivacious wines that are immediately enticing. The smaller yields and smaller berries bring very good concentration. The smaller berries also bring more color than usual in these pale wines that carry Nebbiolo’s typical orange tinge (usually a sign of evolution and maturity), even in their youth. Always more elegant and refined than Barolo, Barbaresco's innate grace is even more evident in this vintage. Few of the hundred-plus wines I tasted ranked below a 90 in my notes. These are worth buying for today, and well beyond tomorrow. The 2021s don't quite hit the glorious highs of the 2016s, but they give the 2019s a run for the money.

Producers Worth Seeking Out

Ada Nada 
Amalia Cascina
Armando di Piazzo Marina
Bera
Bruno Rocca
Carlo Giacosa
Cascina Sarìa
Castello di Neive
Castello di Verduno
Costa di Bussia Tenuta Arnulfo
Fontanabianca
Manera Fratelli 
Giuseppe Cortese 
Giuseppe Nada
Lodali
Luigi Pira
Marchesi di Barolo
Marco e Vittorio Adriano
Moccagatta
Piazzo Comm. Armando
Poderi Colla
Produttori del Barbaresco
Silvano Bolmida
Tenute Cisa Asinari dei Marchesi di Grésy

The Roeros

Surprisingly, the 2021 Roeros were an uneven bunch. Many wines were tight with firm acidity and leathery—sometimes even grinding—tannins. Some wines displayed colors and aromas that were already evolved. The sample size in Alba and New York was small, so these results perhaps are an aberration in what should be a very fine vintage. Buy with care, but rest assured that the producers below are consistently the best in the denominazione.

Producers Worth Seeking Out

Angelo Negro
Benotti Rosavica
Cascina Ca' Rossa
Lorenzo & Giovanni Frea
Malabaila di Canale
Malvirà
Matteo Correggia

2020

The Growing Season

Mother Nature was kind in 2020, with the season starting quickly after the mild winter and resulting in a slightly earlier harvest. April frosts were followed by May rains and then some hail in June, each reducing some crop in various vineyards along the way. During the growing season, temperatures were warm but not sizzling hot, and rain fell regularly. Relative to 2017, 2018, 2022, and 2023, this was a cooler year, but make no mistake: it was still a warm vintage. 

The Barolos

These wines already beguile, with sweet tannins accompanied by glycerin-driven and gently fruited palates. High alcohol is occasionally noticeable, but given the accompanying freshness of the wines, it usually doesn't feel out of place. Indeed, acidities remain tingly and refreshing. This impressive, upfront balance adds up to immediately accessible wines, yet there is still ample structure to cellar the wines for a decade or more. Producers generally feel 2020 is a better year than 2019—which is surprising, as the 2019s have more structure and poise. Still, the hit rate is high with this vintage for Barolo normale, as evidenced by the long list below.

Producers Worth Seeking Out

The Roero Riservas

If I had to pick a single category that blew me away during the week I spent in Piedmont in late January, it would be the 2020 Roero Riservas. It's not that they are the absolute best wines, but they are unquestionably delicious, balanced, and crowd-pleasing wines. Plus, they have reasonable price tags. I wouldn’t score a single one below 90. A few wines verged on slightly tart acidity, but that can be forgiven with this high acid variety. (Plus, acid hounds will be thrilled with those.) These wines over-delivered. They will charm now through the mid-term.

Highlights

Angelo Negro & Figli Roero Riserva Sudisfà
Bric Castelvej Roero Riserva Panera Alta
Careglio Pierangelo Roero Riserva Valmezzana
Cascina Ca' Rossa di Ferrio Angelo Roero Riserva Le Coste
Giacomo Barbero Roero Riserva Valmaggiore
Malvirà Roero Riserva Renesio
Valdinera Roero Riserva San Carlo

2019

The Growing Season

Despite the dry winter, 2019’s mostly-charmed growing season was sprinkled with ample precipitation. The early spring rains reduced the crop, helping to concentrate flavor and intensity in the grapes later in the season. In mid-summer, torrid temperatures caused sunburn and desiccation in some vineyard sectors, necessitating sorting at harvest. Luckily, the mercury dropped in August, and September delivered ideal ripening conditions for the mid-October harvest. Some rainy spells during harvest didn't seem to hamper the quality of the best wines.

The Barbaresco Riservas

These wines have purity, density and ample tannic spine. The cooler growing season has lifted—and almost exaggerated—Nebbiolo's innate perfume. Commune and cru typicity are evident. As one would expect of Riservas, these definitely need more time in bottle for their tannins to calm down and—where applicable—their new oak nuances to recede. While many of the normale 2019s can be approached now, you'll miss the underlying complexity that makes these Riservas if you pop their corks too early. These are mid- to long-haul wines. Many compare the vintage's quality to 2016. While 2019 comes close, the 2016s have more refinement and even more consistency.

Highlights

Pelissero Pasquale Barbaresco Riserva Ciabot
Ugo Lequio Barbaresco Riserva Gallina

2018

The Growing Season

Rain defined this tricky vintage, with one third more rain than usual falling during the growing season. Piedmont hadn't seen this much rain since the biblical deluge of 2002. (Mercifully, the 2018s are much better wines.) May alone delivered one-and-a-half times more rain than than the preceding 10-year average for that month. In fact, more rain than average fell each month except in April and September, when the gauges equaled the average. Warm temperatures exacerbated the wet conditions, inviting disease to settle in the vines early on. This was worsened by the soggy conditions, which made vineyard accessibility by machinery difficult. The TLC the vineyards needed was heightened by the fact that the crop set was large—despite the rainy weather—after the small crop produced in the frost-affected and drought-stricken 2017 vintage. The vines had to work hard to fully ripen their fruit loads.

The Barolo Riservas

Quality is uneven among the 2018 Barolo Riservas. This isn't surprising as many single vineyard normale wines were declassified into a single, blended Barolo wine—even at top estates. Also, for producers using large-format oak, if a barrel hoped to be destined for Riserva doesn't make the cut, a producer can't declassify part of it: the whole lot gets the boot. The best possess notable concentration and poise. But many show simple aromatics, or have fresh oak tones that seem to try to force complexity into the wine. Not every Riserva vintage makes a great Riserva vintage. (Though there are always exceptions for some producers.) Proceed with caution, and plan to cellar these for mid-term drinking. If a comparison can be drawn, there are some similarities to the easy-going 2012s that were also accessible early on. The 2014s were more dynamic and intense than the 2018s.

Highlights

Bergadano Cav. Enrico di Bergadano Piercarlo Barolo Riserva Sarmassa
Giacosa Fratelli Barolo Riserva Scarrone Vigna Mandorlo 
Enrico Serafino Barolo Riserva Briccolina