For those passionate about wine, nothing beats being on the ground. Walking the very vineyards, meeting the very people behind your favorite bottles is part of what makes this pursuit so special. I've been lucky to do it quite a bit–all the major wine growing regions in the U.S., Burgundy, Tuscany, Wachau, and more.
Nothing, and I genuinely mean this, beats visiting Piedmont. The landscape and food alone make it a world class destination. Add in the wines, the vineyards, and the people, then you have one of the most magical places on the planet.
The arrival of Fall always encourages me to reach for Piedmontese wines. I could and do drink them your-round, but there's just something special about watching your glass fill up with a heady Nebbiolo or brambly Barbera while the temperatures outside slip into the 60s.
If it wasn't already obvious...October is Piedmont month here at The Wine Cellar. We're stocking our shelves with tons of options from the region and celebrating the season with you all here in the wine club.
Entry-Level Club
Cascina Baricchi Barbera d’Alba Riva della Coda 2021
Cascina Baricchi is a small family estate in Neviglie, in the hills east of Barbaresco, where Natale Simonetta works with a distinctly traditionalist sensibility. Riva della Coda is the estate’s serious take on Barbera, a grape that can sometimes be treated as Piedmont’s everyday counterpoint to Nebbiolo. Here it gets considerably more attention. The warm, well-exposed hills around Neviglie give Barbera plenty of natural ripeness, while the variety’s naturally high acidity keeps the wine energetic. Baricchi’s approach favors depth and structure rather than a polished, fruit-forward style, making this a Barbera built as much for the table and cellar as for immediate drinking. The 2021 vintage adds another layer of seriousness: a strong, classically proportioned year in the Langhe that produced wines with both concentration and freshness.
Roagna Dolcetto d’Alba 2024
Roagna is one of the great old names of the Langhe, with roots in Barbaresco going back generations and important holdings in both Barbaresco and Barolo. Today Luca Roagna carries the family tradition forward with long macerations, patient élevage and an uncompromising commitment to old vineyards and biodiversity. That philosophy extends even to Dolcetto, a grape often made quickly and simply for everyday drinking. Roagna treats it as a wine worthy of the same attention to farming and site as the estate’s more celebrated Nebbiolo. The result is Dolcetto in a particularly old-school Piedmontese register: savory, structured and refreshingly free of cosmetic polish. It’s also a useful window into Roagna as a whole—a wine that communicates the estate’s philosophy without requiring the years of patience, or the price, associated with its Barbaresco and Barolo.
Trediberri Langhe Nebbiolo 2025
Trediberri is a relatively young estate by Piedmontese standards, founded in 2007 by Vladimiro and Federico Oberto together with their friend Luciano Gagliardo. Based in La Morra, the winery has quickly become known for combining deep respect for traditional Barolo with a refreshingly unpretentious outlook. Their Langhe Nebbiolo captures that spirit particularly well. Rather than trying to turn entry-level Nebbiolo into a miniature Barolo through extraction or heavy oak, Trediberri emphasizes the grape’s lift, transparency and sheer drinkability. The house style tends toward traditional fermentations and large-format vessels, allowing Nebbiolo’s character and the limestone-rich hills around La Morra to remain front and center. The 2025 is the kind of wine that explains why Langhe Nebbiolo has become indispensable: it offers a direct connection to one of Italy’s great grapes without demanding the ceremony—or patience—of Barolo.
Premium Club
Piero Busso Langhe Nebbiolo 2024
Piero Busso is a small, family-run estate in Neive, one of the historic communes of Barbaresco. Founded by Piero Busso in the 1950s and now involving the next generation, the winery has remained resolutely artisanal, farming its vineyards organically and working with a light hand in the cellar. Busso is best known for traditionally minded Barbaresco from sites such as Albesani and San Stunet, and the Langhe Nebbiolo belongs firmly to the same world. It isn’t conceived as a glossy, internationalized version of Nebbiolo, but as an approachable expression of the grape from a family whose identity is inseparable from Neive. The emphasis is on clarity, structure and the naturally elegant side of Nebbiolo rather than extraction or obvious oak. It’s an excellent introduction to Busso’s understated style and to the distinctive, often graceful character of Nebbiolo grown around Neive.
Marco Pezzuto Roero Ciafrè 2023
Marco Pezzuto works in the Roero, across the Tanaro River from the Langhe, where Nebbiolo takes on a different personality. The region’s sandy soils distinguish it from the marl and limestone more commonly associated with Barolo and Barbaresco, often producing Nebbiolo with particular perfume, finesse and immediacy. Ciafrè comes from this landscape and reflects the increasingly exciting generation of small Roero growers who treat the area not as Barolo’s lesser neighbor, but as a distinctive terroir in its own right. Pezzuto’s production is small and artisanal, with the emphasis on expressing vineyard and grape rather than cellar technique. The 2023 Ciafrè is therefore as much a wine about place as variety: Nebbiolo translated through the loose, sandy soils and steep hills of Roero. It’s a compelling reminder that some of Piedmont’s most characterful Nebbiolo is found outside the famous Barolo and Barbaresco zones.
Cantalupo Ghemme 2018
Antichi Vigneti di Cantalupo is one of the reference estates of Ghemme, in Alto Piemonte, where the Arlunno family has cultivated vines for generations. This is Nebbiolo far north of Barolo and Barbaresco, grown near the foothills of the Alps on ancient glacial and volcanic-derived soils. Locally Nebbiolo is traditionally called Spanna, and in Ghemme it produces wines with a markedly different architecture from those of the Langhe: generally more linear, mineral and austere, with an ability to age far beyond what their delicacy might initially suggest. Cantalupo has played an important role in preserving and promoting this historic appellation, working traditionally and allowing long maturation to do much of the shaping. The 2018 Ghemme is a particularly good introduction to Alto Piemonte—a wine grounded in an old viticultural culture that nearly disappeared, but which has deservedly returned to the attention of serious Piedmont drinkers.
Cellar Add-On
Cascina Penna Currado Derthona Timorasso 2024
One of our favorite producers and Timorasso is one of the more exciting white wine styles being made in Northern Italy. While Gavi Cortese and Arneis dominate much of the production, this grape native to the southeast corner of Piedmont has seen a recent resurgence and for darn good reason.
Collector Add-On
Piero Busso Barbaresco San Stunet 2021
A true Popina favorite, from what could turn out to be a legendary vintage, what's not to love? This is the highest elevation site for Piero Busso and the one that showcases the ideal balance between the family's elegance and potential longevity.