Top 10 Italian Value Wines for Fall

When people think of Italy, a few things comes to mind. For some, it's the history, landscapes, endless plates of pasta, pizza, and cheese. For us, it's the incredible bang for your buck you can get with the wine!

To show you what we mean, this week we rounded up ten of our favorite value Italian wines that drink double their price when compared to the competition. Try them out and let us know what you think!

1. 2017 Moccagatta Dolcetto d'Alba

Retail Price: $19.99
Our Price: $13.99

Vinous writes, "The 2017 Dolcetto d'Alba is soft, open-knit and delicious, with plenty of red berry, floral and spice notes pushed forward. Soft contours bring out the wine's juiciness nicely. Radiant and supple, the 2017 retains a mid-weight sense of structure."

Organically grown.

 

2. 2018 Ausonia Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Apollo

Our Price: $15.49

Vinous, 91+ Points

"Inky ruby. Dense aromas and flavors of blueberry, blackberry, smoke, tobacco and violet. Rich and tactile, offering rising, youthfully chewy but polished tannins. This big, strapping wine boasts considerable refinement and grace despite its outwardly huge size (it has only 13.5% alcohol, and so it’s more balanced than many other Montepulciano d’Abruzzos clocking in at well over 14% alcohol in many vintages). Will likely improve with a little bottle age."

Spontaneous fermentation, unfined and unfiltered with low sulphites.

Organic and biodynamically grown. Vegan-friendly.

3. 2013 Guastaferro Memini Irpinia Aglianico

Retail Price: $50.00
Our Price: $18.99

Vinous, 92 Points

"Bright red. Musky red fruits and sweet chili pepper aromas are lifted by floral and spicy notes. Big, velvety and very ripe, displaying lively inner-mouth notes of black cherry, ink and fresh herbs. Harmonious acidity provides clarity and verve to the plush, rather ripe red fruit flavors. The finish features suave tannins and outstanding length. There’s more than enough energy to ensure a slow evolution in bottle."

4. 2015 Il Poggione Rosso di Montalcino

Retail Price: $27.00
Our Price: $19.99

Wine Spectator, 91 Points

"Bright, delicate and vibrant, with berry and floral flavors. Accents of earth, tobacco and spice add interest as they linger on the finish. Well-rounded and long. Drink now through 2023. 16,666 cases made." — BS

 

 

5. 2018 Sottimano Brachetto Mate

Retail Price: $24.00
Our Price: $19.99

"100% Brachetto. The Mate’ vineyard is a little (1.1 hectare) plot of 40+ year old Brachetto vines  planted to limestone and clay in the zone of Treiso.  The fermentation and the maceration on the skins normally takes about 20 days, using only indigenous yeasts. The malolactic fermentation is completed in stainless steel, where the wine remains for approximately 8 months. The Mate is never fined or filtered."

Organically grown.

6. 2016 Tiberio Pecorino

Our Price: $19.99

Vinous, 91 Points

"Vivid dark straw-yellow. Tangy aromas and flavors of yellow apple, peach and honey, complicated by a delicate whiff of sage. Oilier and thicker in texture than Tiberio’s Trebbiano d’Abruzzo (the Pecorino variety builds up sugar with much greater ease and hence gives fleshier wines), but with sound acidity giving backbone to the ripe orchard fruit and herbal flavors. At once powerful but vibrant, this pure, refined wine is ready to drink now but will likely age well. 13% alcohol."

7. 2018 Arianna Occhipinti SP68 Rosso Sicilia

Our Price: $24.99

Vinous, 91 Points

"Deep red. Perfumed aromas and flavors of violet, minerals and spicy dark plums. Very juicy and fresh in the mouth, with noteworthy salinity on the long suave finish."

Biodynamically grown.

 

 

8. NV Bellavista Alma Gran Cuvee Franciacorta DOCG Brut

Our Price: $31.99

James Suckling, 91 Points

"Anyone who thinks that Italian sparkling wines are always lighter and simpler than Champagne should try this substantial wine with pear, apple and berry nuances and a successful balance of yeast character and acidity. Long finish, where the berry notes dominate. Drink now. Disgorged in 2017."

 

 

9. 2014 G.D. Vajra Barolo Albe

Our Price: $38.99

Wine Advocate, 91 Points

"A tribute to local tradition, the 2014 Barolo Albe represents an assembly of fruit from various vineyard plots throughout the area. Winemaking is classic in approach with a 25-day maceration period and aging in large Slavonian oak casks. This vintage shows silky, fine lines and a more accessible approach for near and medium-term drinking. I would recommend a few more years of bottle aging, however, to allow the wine the time to grow in texture and mouthfeel."

10. 2013 La Rasina Brunello di Montalcino 

Retail Price: $55.00
Our Price: $41.99

James Suckling, 96 Points

"A wealth of ripe fruit with spice, tobacco, cedar and plum aromas that follow through to a full body, chewy and dense tannins and a ripe and delicious finish. A solid and stoic young red. Give it three or four years to soften. Made from organic grapes."

Organically grown.

Did we miss your favorite? Let us know in the comments!