2016 Vallana "Campi Raudii" (Library Release) Nebbiolo

Ten-year-old Nebbiolo at its peak, from one of the most storied cellars in Piedmont, for twenty-five dollars. I will explain how that is possible, but first: buy it. In the 1950s, Bernardo Vallana's Spanna from Maggiora, in the Alto Piemonte, sat on the very short list of great Piedmontese wines alongside Giacomo Conterno and Bartolo Mascarello, and bottles from that era are still alive and still turning up at auction. His grandchildren, Francis and Marina Fogarty, run the estate the way he did: cement tanks, gentle pump-overs, no new oak and, above all, time in bottle. The Vallana cellar has almost no room for barrels because the family has always believed the wine finishes itself in glass. Campi Raudii is the everyday statement of that creed. Spanna — Nebbiolo in the local dialect — with a seasoning of Uva Rara and Vespolina, fermented and raised entirely in cement, bottled as a humble Vino da Tavola and then left in the family's cellar for a decade. Galloni gave this Library Release 92 points and found it far better now than when it was first released, which is exactly how Vallana has always worked. The 2016 was a benchmark vintage across Piedmont, and the iron-rich volcanic soils of the Novara hills gave the wine the acidity to wait. In the glass, it pours a translucent garnet with an orange rim. The nose is cool and fully open: dried cherry, pomegranate, dried rose, blood orange peel, iron and wet stone, with a thread of tea leaf. On the palate, it is medium-bodied and vibrant at just 12.5% alcohol, the acidity still racy, the tannins fine, dusty and finally at peace, through a long, savory, impeccably clean finish. This is the bottle that converts people to Alto Piemonte. Serve it with a plate of salumi, a mushroom risotto or a Tuesday-night roast chicken, and drink it over the next three to four years. Library releases are finite by definition: when this is gone, there is no next vintage of it.