Does It Make Sense to Cellar Wine Under $20?

Today's wine marks the end of my journey through the Italian region of Piedmont and my first review of Nebbiolo on GWU$20. It also represents an opportunity to explore whether or not it makes any sense at all to cellar a wine that costs less than $20.

Most of the wines reviewed on this blog are ready to drink on release. Many will improve and taste even better in 6-12 months. Some need more time--say 12-18 months. But the 2001 Dessilani Spanna Riserva that I opened up recently provided a ringing endorsement for the idea that some wine--not terribly expensive, to be sure, but made with a grape that rewards patience--can be held for three years and make you happy that you waited so long before drinking it.

The 2001 Dessilani Spanna Riserva was a spectacularly good example of a budget-friendly Nebbiolo, one of the Piedmont's most illustrious and coveted grapes. I paid $12.99 for this bottle of wine at BevMo back in March 2006. More recent vintages will now cost you $15-$26. Three years later, in March 2009, this wine had blossomed into a beauty. It had aromas of violets, black tea, charcoal grill, and plums. The wine was fairly drying on the tongue even now--eight years past harvest--and earlier tasting notes on CellarTracker! indicate that it was a fairly challenging wine when it was young. Now, however, it revealed meaty and plummy flavors with silky, well-integrated tannins and hints of cedar in the aftertaste. It was best within several hours of first opening, but continued to be drinkable through the second day.

Will all inexpensive wine improve with age? Absolutely not. But it's worth doing your research to find out what grapes--like Nebbiolo--do benefit from a few extra months in the bottle.

What have your experiences been with cellaring inexpensive wine?

An Italian Native from Monferrato

As I mentioned in yesterday's announcement post, Italy's Piedmont region is blessed with a number of indigenous grapes that produce distinctive wines.

This month, I'm beginning my journey into Piedmont with a blended red wine that was brought into the US by wine impresario Randall Grahm back when Bonny Doon expanded (briefly) into the negociant and importer biz. Since this wine was bottled and sold, Grahm has abandoned this venture to focus on biodynamic winemaking--which is too bad, because this wine represented very good QPR. And I'm not the only blogger to think so. Check out the reaction from Taster A at the blog Smells Like Grape.


The 2005 Bonny Doon Monferrato Rosso Piemontese Blend was an interesting wine that, though a bit tight and flat at first, opened up nicely over the course of the evening. It was blended from 70% Ruche, an indigenous Piedmont grape, 20% Barbera and 10% Syrah. Even when first opened, there were heady aromas of white flowers and plums, and these deepened and got more complex and less overtly perfumey as time passed. The flavors reminded me of pomegranate and cherries, and there was a juicy, spicy aftertaste. This wine has lots of acidity from the combination of Ruche and Barbera, which makes it an excellent and adaptable food wine.

We had the wine with a simple, rustic, and flavorful pasta dish: spaghetti with garlicky marsala mushrooms. The garlic was beautiful with the wine's acidity, and the bright fruit flavors in this wine were a nice counterpoint to the earthiness of the mushrooms. I was a bit worried the Marsala and the Ruche would not be a happy partnership, but it was just fine. (If you don't have Ruche, this recipe would be great with another variety from the Piedmont: Nebbiolo)

I got this from the Bonny Doon Wine Club over two years ago, in February of 2007, for $15.30. You can't get it any more--at least not as far as I can tell. However, this wine was actually made by Luca Ferraris, a well-known winemaker from the region and you can find their Ruche for between $18 and $25. Based on the tasting notes on CellarTracker the wine has evolved quite nicely during the two years it has been in my cellar. So if you do go ahead and get some of Ferraris's Ruche, you may want to give it 3-4 years after the vintage date to develop the fruit flavors to go with the upfront aromatics.

Back to the Alps in March: Italy's Piedmont

Last month, David McDuff of McDuff's Food and Wine Trail led 52 wine bloggers on a tasting tour of Piedmont. This month, GWU$20 picks up where Wine Blogging Wednesday left off as we turn our attention to this legendary Italian wine region. (photo by Giorgio Montersino)

Italy's Piedmont shares borders with France and Switzerland along the formidable natural boundary of the Alps. Tough growing conditions lead to small yields--even though this is Italy's largest (and one of its most productive) regions. The Piedmont's sparkling wine from Asti, for example, is second only to Champagne in terms of overall sparkling wine production.

If the Piedmont region conjures up only images of high-quality, high-priced, hearty reds like Barolo and Barbaresco, you will be pleased to know that they make affordable wines there, too. Many of them are made with native grapes like Arneis, Cortese, Erbaluce, Barbera, Grignolino, and Ruche. Nebbiolo is the region's most famous and prestigious grape, but even GWU$20 readers can sometimes find bottlings that fit their budget. I'll be dipping into these native grapes to find some good values and to expand my knowledge of Italy's hidden treasures. (picture by kuspoletto)

Of course there is great food to be had in the Piedmont, too, and much of it tends to be rich and hearty. Many of the region's dishes include rice, which is grown here. Risottos, fondutas (the Italian version of fondue), truffles, and cheese are some of the hallmark tastes of the Piedmont. I always have great plans to cook regional food to go along with my wine, but I don't always manage it. Still, I've got some recipes pulled out of Lynn Rossetto Kasper's inspiring cookbook, The Italian Country Table, that I am eager to try including a balsamic-roasted chicken with potatoes and a soothing chickpea soup. (photo by Cebete)

I picked up plenty of tips from last month's Wine Blogging Wednesday, but if you have anything to add--from wines to try to insights into what inspires you about wines from the Piedmont--please leave them in the comments below. I'll have my first review of a red wine from the region tomorrow.