Italy makes some of the world’s greatest wines. And if you love Italian wine, then you owe it to yourself to invest in — not every night, but every so often — a bottle that will tell you with every sip why the best Italian wines are world-class.
It’s true that there are some Italian benchmarks that are hard to find (Valentini’s ultra-elusive Trebbiano d’Abruzzo), some that one simply can’t afford even on a splurge night (Masseto, which runs a cool $975 a bottle), and a few that you can’t get or afford (Soldera’s famed Brunello di Montalcino: Don’t ask, and don’t worry because it isn’t available anyway). But those are the outliers. Most, while pricey, more than reward the investment and, in truth, aren’t too hard to find. Here are ten iconic Italian bottles to track down.
Prosecco Superiore: 2023 Adami Vigneto Giardino ($27)
Although oceans of inexpensive, pleasantly anonymous Prosecco lap at our shores daily, not all Prosecco is created equal (and not by a long shot). The dramatic hills of the Prosecco Superiore region produce truly distinctive sparkling wines, and Adami’s Vigneto Giardino is among the best — and was also the first single-vineyard Prosecco ever produced for the commercial market, back in 1933. It’s creamy and subtle, filled with bright green-apple and floral notes, ending on lingering spice.
Trentino: 2022 Foradori Normale Teroldego ($35)
One of the benchmark reds of northern Trentino, this is also the signature wine of one of Italy’s most significant winemakers, Elisabetta Foradori. Her championing of Teroldego in the 1980s and 1990s helped bring attention back to this Trentino grape; her visibility as a woman winemaker at a time when that was a rarity in Italy helped inspire a new generation of Italian women; and her devotion to low-intervention winemaking and biodynamic farming has made her an influence in those worlds, too.
Soave: 2023 Pieropan Soave La Rocca ($55)
The hillside vineyard that produces Pieropan’s groundbreaking La Rocca bottling – the first single-vineyard Soave, initially made in the 1978 vintage – and Leonildo Pieropan’s decision at that time to craft a white specifically from late-picked Garganega resulted in this benchmark cuvee. La Rocca is richer than people think of Soave as being, with aromas and flavors of stone fruits, nuts, and sometimes honeysuckle.
It’s true to form in the 2023 vintage, and the wine remains one of Italy’s greatest white wines. As a side note, that late harvest date was originally a problem. Leonildo passed away in 2018, but as his son Andrea recalls: “People used to come during the night and steal the grapes from La Rocca. Everyone else would finish harvest about two weeks before we picked, so they probably thought, ‘What does it matter? He clearly doesn’t want these grapes.’ After two or three years, though, my father got pretty angry, so he built a wall with a gate to keep everyone out.” Good thing for those of us who love this wine that he did.
Taurasi: 2019 Mastroberardino Radici Taurasi ($60)
Aglianico is the signature red grape of Campania, the wine region that surrounds Naples, and the Taurasi appellation is where Aglianico reaches its greatest heights. The Mastroberardino family’s Radici bottling is arguably the classic expression of this formidable grape and is a testament to the work of Antonio Mastroberardino, who in the years after World War II did more than anyone else to restore Aglianico’s reputation — brooding, dark, powerful, and able to age decades in a cellar.
Chianti Classico: 2019 Castello di Monsanto Il Poggio ($95)
As Chianti lingered in postwar doldrums during the 1950s and 1960s, Monsanto founder Fabrizio Bianchi wasn’t content to make or have his region defined by mediocre wines. As a result, in 1962 his Il Poggio bottling became Chianti Classico’s first single-vineyard wine, and to this day (now made by his daughter, Laura Bianchi) it’s one of the best — aromatic and complex, impressive when young, spellbinding with some age. Buy one bottle now and one (or more) to put away.
Franciacorta: 2016 Ca’ del Bosco Annamaria Clementi ($120)
Franciacorta is Italy’s most prestigious sparkling wine region, and this wine is arguably its greatest expression. Now named for founder Maurizio Zanella’s mother, Annamaria, Ca’ del Bosco’s single-vintage top cuvée was first made in 1979. (It acquired its current name in 2008.) Zanella’s mission has been to prove that Italy can produce world-class sparkling wines fully as profound as those of Champagne; if anyone has any doubts, a sip of this wine will dispel them.
Friuli: 2021 Livio Felluga Terre Alte ($130)
Terre Alte is one of the great white wines of Italy and in 1981 (together with Jermann’s Vintage Tunina, a few years earlier) effectively created the Super-Friulian category. In many ways, it represents the life’s work of winemaker Livio Felluga, who died in 2016 at age 102: A luscious yet vividly bright blend of Friulano, Sauvignon, and Pinot Bianco, all from ancient vines, it’s round and complex and generally irresistible. And it’s able to age for a decade or more, at least if you can resist drinking it now.
Tuscany: 2022 Antinori Tignanello ($180)
In the early 1970s, a bleak time for Tuscan wine, Marchese Piero Antinori defied local rules in Chianti Classico by refusing to blend white grapes into his red Sangiovese (a requirement back then), adding a proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc to the blend (which was not allowed), and aging the result in French barriques. The result was Tignanello. Lush and powerful yet impeccably elegant, it helped create the Super-Tuscan category and to this day remains an Italian superstar.
Brunello di Montalcino: 2019 Biondi-Santi Brunello di Montalcino ($315)
In the late 1800s, Clemente Santi effectively invented modern Brunello di Montalcino, using 100% Sangiovese for red wines and aging them in Slavonian oak barrels. Much has changed at the estate since then — it’s now operated by Clemente’s grandson Ferruccio Biondi Santi and owned by the French company that owns Charles Heidsieck Champagne, EPI — but the wine, finessed and layered, with deep red fruit and herb-and-spice nuances, remains an icon of the appellation.
Barbaresco: 2022 Gaja Barbaresco ($405)
When Angelo Gaja renounced the Barbaresco DOCG designation for his top wines in 2000 (because he preferred to utilize a small percentage of other grapes in them, not just 100% Nebbiolo), it shook the Piedmontese wine world. Gaja was, after all, Gaja: one of the most acclaimed wineries in the region, and certainly one of the most pricey, too.
But Angelo Gaja was never one to follow the rules, and the wines then and now have always been world-class; not only the legendary single-vineyard Sorì San Lorenzo, Costa Russi and Sorì Tildìn bottlings (which in 2013 reverted to DOCG Barbaresco status, now 100% Nebbiolo again) but also the winery’s flagship Barbaresco bottling, which the family has made since 1859.
A blend from 14 different vineyards, it’s thrillingly complex, its intense red fruit flavors underlined by savory herbal/spicy notes (juniper, eucalyptus) and carried along on rich, supple tannins.
Dining and Cooking