Top 100 Cellar Selection #12 / 10 Wines Under $50 Perfect for Your Cellar

Combining an irresistible pairing of earthy elegance and age-worthy structure, this fragrant, focused red boasts heady scents of smoke, wild berry, pipe tobacco, sunbaked earth and rose petal. The taut linear palate shows lovely tension, delivering juicy Morello cherry, crushed raspberry, baking spice and licorice framed in youthfully firm but refined tannins. Fresh acidity lends balance and energy. Drink 2022 - 2035. Dalla Terra Winery Direct.

I love the tension and the glossy elegance here. The 2013 Barbaresco Riserva Camp Gros Martinenga is silky, bright and buoyant. It is complete and shows a lot of depth. It offers fresh acidity, and while it has a lean approach, it definitely has impressive length. This wine should evolve nicely over the next 10-20 years.

-Monica Larner

This intense version is concentrated, with black cherry, blackberry, graphite, tobacco and spice flavors, yet remains light-footed due to the racy profile. Structured, yet beautifully balanced and youthful. Shows purity and length on the aftertaste, which introduces a floral component. Best from 2022 through 2045. 814 cases made, 150 cases imported.

Subtle and complex with cooked-apple, pie-crust and biscuit aromas and flavors. Full body. Extremely creamy and beautiful with plenty of cooked apples, light pears and light honey at the finish. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold.

Intense aromas of crushed blackberries with hot stones and black licorice. Black olives, too. Full body, firm and soft tannins in a light profile. Tar and berry at the end. Great depth and focus. A gorgeous red. Drink or hold.

This is a decadent but polished Montepulciano, offering dried plums, chocolate-coated dark cherries, coffee beans and mocha. Full-bodied and structured, the tannins taking on a muscular, lean shape, while the ripe fruit peppers the palate. Long and chewy on the finish. Drink from 2023

Pianodario is the coolest and highest of the three vineyards, at 800m above sea level. Terraced with dry stone walls to enable farming on the steeply sloping terrain, the soils are shallower here and rich in minerals consisting of volcanic sands, small- to medium-sized rocks, and pumice. The average temperature is 3˚C lower than in the Rampante vineyard, and the wine is marked by higher acidity and tannins – a marked austerity. Vinified in the same way as Rampante, with 12 months in Slavonian oak, this is fresh, cool, aromatic and tightly mineral, displaying characteristics of rose petal and redcurrant. Fantastic length and power.

WINE SPECTATOR 2019 TOP 100 #54 

Bright black cherry, plum, earth, vanilla and toasty oak flavors are the hallmarks of this well-crafted red. Balanced, this needs a year or two to integrate more fully and extend the finish. Firm grip. Sangiovese, Colorino, Canaiolo and Merlot. Best from 2021 through 2033. 16,000 cases made, 2,600 cases imported.