Quite honestly, I don’t know how Paolo and Cristina Baudana scrape out a living from the tiny holdings they have in northeastern part of the Barolo zone. They make so little wine—barely 10,000 bottles—you scarcely ever see it beyond a few restaurants in the Langhe region they so lovingly farm. But when you can find the Contrada di Sorano wines, they are well worth the trouble. The Nebbiolo-based wines made here are from the Sorano and Gallaretto MGAs, two adjacent vineyards that straddle, somewhat confusingly, both the Serralunga d’Alba and Diano d’Alba appellations. Further, they grow a lot of the oldest, least productive but most aromatic clone of Nebbiolo, Nebbiolo Rosé, making their wines some of the most elegant, lithe and fragrant you will find.

While hunting down the tiny production of Barolo is best done at some of the Langhe’s best restaurants (and, maybe if you time it right, at their little cantina itself), a miniscule amount of Paolo’s Langhe Nebbiolo, from a parcel of Gallaretto planted in 2011, does make it to America. We managed to pry a few cases loose from their parsimonious importer. Aged in used French oak barriques for a scant five months, it’s a lovely red-fruited Nebbiolo with hints of dried cherry, spice, black truffle and floral notes. Concentrated but pliant, its soft and rather delicate approach makes it a wine you can open with an amazing variety of foods. Its pure Nebbiolo flavors make it a natural with all kinds of richer, meatier fare, but I like its lighter, prettier touch with things like wild mushrooms, cheeses (both soft, like La Tur, and hard, like a nice chunk of Castelmagno) or a platter of salumi.

These days I drink more Langhe Nebbiolo than Barolo at home and the first case is going home with me. Lovely wine, nicely packaged and well-priced.