A round and juicy red with berry, cherry, mushroom and wet-earth character on both the nose and palate. It’s full-bodied with integrated tannins that are soft and luscious. Long, flavorful finish. Drinkable now, but better in two or three years.

The 2010 Alta Langa Riserva Zero 140 Pas Dosé is airy and fresh with a bouquet of white flowers, crushed almonds, incense and vanilla-laced peaches. It’s elegant in feel, with a silken wave of fine bubbles and ripe orchard fruits that swirl across a stream of brilliant acidity. The 2010 remains remarkably fresh despite its age, leaving hints of tropical citrus and sweet inner florals to linger over a saline mineral saturation. Wow.

Complex and viscous, this dessert white exudes caramel, brown butter, molasses, dried fig, orange peel and bitter walnut aromas and flavors. Its intense sweetness is cut by balancing acidity, while the flavors ply the seemingly endless aftertaste. Trebbiano and San Colombano. Drink now through 2038. 255 cases made, 50 cases imported.

This is very intense with electric acidity. Dried apples, lemons and minerals with a salty undertone. Full-bodied with phenolic tension and an extremely long finish. Hints of oyster. Needs two or three years to show its greatness, but fantastic already.

Past vintages of this wine were called Roncaglie Masseria, but the word Masseria has been removed. The Vietti 2021 Barbaresco Roncaglie draws its fruit from inclined vineyards that produce fruit with finesse and elegance. This pretty wine opens to a note of fragrant flower or heritage rose that accompanies you over a long, silky close. In a good vintage like 2021, vintners could push skin macerations a little longer. This wine saw 25 days on the skins compared to 22 days in the 2022 vintage. Vietti recently purchased land in Rabajà, a site that produces profound wines, and this plot in Roncaglie has a greater presence of sand in its soils, creating more floral and delicate expressions instead. This matures in large oak casks for 24 months, and production is 6,066 bottles.

This is a very pleasant and affordable wine that could be termed “Barolo light.” The importer had a hand in its production, sourcing grapes from the various villages in this northwestern Italian region and putting together what was once termed a “shippers’ wine,” not meant to be a blockbuster but rather a good introductory bottle. This has smooth black raspberry and blackberry flavors that allow for easy drinking without the assertive tannins that Nebbiolo wines from this appellation normally exhibit — and which add to their reputation but also their need for aging.

This plot was purchased in 2019, and this is therefore the second vintage made. The Vietti 2020 Barbaresco Riserva Rabajà is spicy, juicy and accessible with some sweetness on the tannins. The wine sports Mediterranean warmth from within with black cherry, spice and grilled rosemary. There is a saline-mineral touch as well that adds elegance, but all said in done, this wine is more immediate in delivery. The 2020 vintage is bookended by two superior vintages, the 2019 and 2021. Only 2,152 bottles were made.

A little more robust and richer on the finish, the Tenute Cisa Asinari dei Marchesi di Gresy 2020 Barbaresco Riserva Gaiun Martinenga offers aromas of cooked cherry and plum. This wine offers a darker fruit profile compared to the others, and it also shows greater structural support. There is a firm, mineral note of iron or rust that should dissolve beautifully as this wine continues its bottle aging. Production is 8,000 bottles.