Price $32.99/CASE PRICE $360/$30 per bottle

There’s Langhe Nebbiolo and there’s Langhe Nebbiolo.  Typically made to be consumed young and at its juicy best, many of the wines labeled Langhe Nebbiolo are made from younger vines, indifferent exposures or second cuts.  There are, though, a few notable producers who consider their Langhe Nebbiolo an important calling card- a chance for their customers to discover the style and quality of a cantina employing a more serious regime.  Such is the case at the venerable Vietti cantina in Castiglione Falletto.   They farm a score of different crus, many of them considered on the short list of the best vineyards in all of the Langhe.  These are names like Bricco Boschis, Monvigliero, Ravera, Fiasco, Bussia and, even, Masseria and Rabaja in Barbaresco.  At Vietti, each site is harvested separately and made into wine as individual unique cuvees. After two years in cask, they are blind tasted by the Vietti winemaking team and slotted to become either the Perbacco Nebbiolo or the winery’s classic Barolo Castiglione.  The former gets bottled shortly after the selection process and gets an additional year in bottle, while the latter will get an extra year in cask to become Barolo. In other words, Perbacco, were it not declassified and called Langhe Nebbiolo, could and probably should, be called Barolo.  At any other house, that would be good enough.  Consumed three times over the past few months (once at the cantina itself last April and twice here locally), the 2022 Perbacco has consistently shown its class.  Vivid cherry red with Nebbiolo’s orange-y rim, the nose has that elusive cherry confit element to it that only strengthens and expands with air, while the dried, cracked earth aspect of Barolo’s best terroirs lurks just underneath.  The tannins are bright but melded smoothly into a mid-weight palate that screams for your best cooking.  This is a blue chip in the category!