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We taste our fair share of Nebbiolo-based wines around here and it takes a bit of doing to impress some of our jaded palates, but we recently tasted a delightful Nebbiolo from an unlikely source that impressed even the most cynical PRIMA palate. I shouldn’t really say ‘unlikely’ because Piero Busso is hardly an unknown producer. Pierguido Busso’s Barbarescos have rightly earned a spot at the top of everyone’s quality pyramid and his wines are amongst the hardest to find and most treasured in the appellation. But we weren’t prepared for just how good a Langhe Nebbiolo Busso produces.

Farming around ten hectares in four different Barbaresco MGAs in Neive and Treiso, this 75-year-old estate is a pioneer in organic agriculture in the region and takes a very old-school approach to bottling their three MGA-specific Barbarescos, focusing solely on the best exposures and oldest vines they farm. The Nebbiolo vines aged between 10 and 25 years are excluded from the Barbaresco cuvées and, instead, find a home in the winery’s Langhe Nebb, making it essentially a younger-vine version of its older brethren. Aged for a year in the same large-format casks used for the Barbarescos, the only real differences are in maceration time and length of time in the cellar—one year in large-format wood—making it an earlier-drinking wine but with much the same pedigree.

It leans into its youthful muscularity and we loved the lifted aromatics that explore Nebbiolo’s floral side along with notes of mulberry, black licorice and tar. More than that, though, the palate is perfect: elegantly fruited, slow to reveal its charms and finishing with the sort of bright, crisp Neive tannins that promise continued improvement in the bottle.

More than just Barbaresco in a minor key, it’s a complete, food-friendly red that wears its Nebbiolo heart on its sleeve. So savory and delicious, make sure you have some pasta on the boil before you open it. Priced right!