Varietal

Tre Bicchieri

The Top wines awarded by the Gambero Rosso each year receive Tre Bicchieri 🍷🍷🍷 ~ Three Glasses!

Gambero Rosso, the global authority on Italian wine, food, travel and culture, is perhaps best known as the publisher of the annual guide to Italian wines, the Vini d’Italia. Featuring more than just reviews of Italy’s finest wines, Vini d’Italia covers the brilliant, passionate individuals who devote their lives to winemaking. Today, more than 70 expert tasters comprise the team that blind-tastes 45,000+ wines annually, rating them on a scale of one to three glasses (bicchieri). Of these many thousands of wines, fewer than 1% achieve the Tre Bicchieri designation, a ranking reserved for only the best wines from each vintage.


Producer! Producer! Producer!


Go Straight to the 🍷🍷🍷 Wines!

Exploring the archives it’s clear the old adage applies, many of the same names popping year after year. Great sites with great makers have a habit of doing that!

Barolo

Reds: Nebbiolo

Luigi Baudana ~ Borgogno ~ Cavallotto ~ Cogno ~ Giacomo Conterno ~ Massolino ~ Figli Luigi Oddero ~ Giovanni Rosso ~ Vietti

Barbaresco

Reds: Nebbiolo

Albino Rocca ~ Giuseppe Cortese ~ Bruno Giacosa ~ Produttori del Barbaresco ~ Roagna ~ Sottimano

Piedmont

White: Timorasso Reds: Nebbiolo

Claudio Mariotto ~ Vigneti Massa

Alto Piedmont

Reds: Nebbiolo

Antoniolo

Valtellina

Reds: Nebbiolo

Ar.Pe.Pe ~ Sandro Fay ~ Rainoldi

Bolgheri

Reds: Cabernet Varietals + Sangiovese

Grattamacco ~ Ornellaia

Montalcino

Reds: Sangiovese

Casanova di Neri ~ Fuligni ~ Poggio di Sotto

Etna

Witeses: Carricante Reds: Nerello Mascalese

Fessina ~ Girolamo Russo ~ Graci ~ Passopisciaro ~ Terre Nere

Filters & Sorting

Sandro Fay Valgella Valtellina Superiore Riserva Carteria 2016
Pinot-esque!!
Grace under pressure. The purity, line & length, and, expression of this wine is exceptional. Where the 2016 Costa Bassa drinks so beautifully out of the gate. 2016 Carteria steps up the depth, length and layering, this will be superb. Brooding and a little darker than the Costa Bassa, it's not just depth of flavour, but depth of tannin that shine. A little patience will yiled a treasure! The textures, harmony and pleasure Sandro Fay are dishing up is exceptional. This will undoubtedly hit the
$135
$130ea in any 3+
$125ea in any 6+

Giuseppe Cortese Barbaresco Rabajà 2019

Nebbiolo | Piedmont, Barbaresco

🍇RABAJÀ RABAJÀ RABAJÀ 🇮🇹 The 2019 Barbaresco Rabaja is a powerful, austere wine that is going to need a number of years to come around. I very much like the energy, but readers should not plan on opening a bottle any time soon, as the 2019 is seriously tannic and shut down at the moment. It’s a gorgeous Barbaresco that shows the more elegant hand that defines the approach today.Antonio Galloni, Vinous 94 PointsThe Rabajà sees a jump in sophistication depth and length.
$142
$137ea in any 3+
$132ea in any 6+

Giuseppe Cortese Barbaresco Rabajà 2020

Nebbiolo | Piedmont, Barbaresco

🍇RABAJÀ RABAJÀ RABAJÀ 🇮🇹 I’ve seen some bolder Barbaresco from 2020. Cortese is fresh and energetic with a clear step up in fruit quality commensurate with the coin. This is so well-balanced and alive. Impressive gear from an estate that just shows so much consistency year after year. The blood orange is there backed by a darker, richer yet still transparent, elegant core of fruit. The dusting of tannin again beautifully weighted with extra depth and length. A sophisticated perfum
$162
$157ea in any 3+
$152ea in any 6+

Sottimano Barbaresco ‘Basarin’ 2019

Nebbiolo | Piedmont, Barbaresco

As with the 2016, Sottimano's 2019 Basarin is a cracker. Finely balanced with the juicy acid that sits across Sottimano's 2019's. There's more immediate generosity compared with the Fausoni at this early stage. Excellent depth and length with fine long tannins. As with the 2016 this has to be one of the best handling of a tiny proportion of new oak in Barbaresco that you'll find. The is great drinking with beautiful shape. The fruit again shining through with an intoxicating set of aromas and f
$180
$173ea in any 3+
$166ea in any 6+
The name has changed from Vigna Regina to Nuova Regina the wine is the same ... Delicious! Sassella is typically the most elegant of the Communes made by Ar.Pe.Pe. The Nuova Regina is clearly the most sophisticated of the 2016 Riserva crop.The perfume here ramps up a notch, delicacy and intrigue with underlying power all be it in a mid-weight wine. Constantly changing and evolving with each sniff. The flow, shape and mouthfeel are impeccable. Vibrant red fruit with woody herbs tea, blood ora
$182
$175ea in any 3+
$168ea in any 6+
The Rocce Rosse has a darker feel. Currently, I perceive it as a little richer with an extra squirt of tannin to hold it. Dark spiced, long firm yet fine tannins. Like the Nuova Regina and Sant’Antonio it lingers for some time. Again there is real beauty here. It unfolds in the glass revealing layer after layer. Incredible, complete wine of exceptional balance. It is unfair to separate the two Sassella, they are both stunning. Drinking the pair together on any given night over the next 1
$182
$175ea in any 3+
$168ea in any 6+
Meaning New Lava Flow it's young soils have not broken down to release as much nutrient as the olds flows. Treating the vines mean and keeping them lean! Made from Nerello Mascelese, some call it the Barolo of the South, others a cross between Pinot & Nebbiolo. I prefer to say it is itself & delicious. The vineyards of Etna have undergone a major renaissance in the last couple of decades. Passipisciaro has been one of the wineries at the forefront. I was blown away the first time I taste
$188
$178ea in any 3+
$168ea in any 6+

Borgogno Barolo ‘Liste’ DOCG 2016

Nebbiolo | Piedmont, Barolo

Loaded with finesse, this wine has enticing aromas of rose, woodland berry, pine forest and herbs. Elegantly structured, the delicious palate delivers juicy Marasca cherry, raspberry compote, star anise and wild mint framed in tightly knit, polished tannins. Fresh acidity keeps it well-balanced. Drink 2022–2036.Kerin O'Keefe
$201
$191ea in any 3+
$181ea in any 6+
Ar.Pe.Pe Valtellina Superiore Sassella Stella Retica MAGNUM 2017
🇮🇹Bravo Isabella!👏🏻
As with the 2015 I found myself not really wanting to write tasting notes simply wanting to devour the glass! Although it was line ball between the 2015 Inferno and Sassella I always lent toward the Sassella as a personal preference. ArPePe have delivered a cracker. Sassella typically produces the most elegant wines of the three communes with Inferno next and Grumello the boldest.The weight of the Sassella is on par with the Inferno this year. This has excellent shape on palate. A nice step
$215
$205ea in any 3+
$195ea in any 6+

Sottimano Barbaresco ‘Currá’ 2016

Nebbiolo | Piedmont, Barbaresco

My cup overfloweth! Barbaresco kicking it up a gear! My first taste of a Sottimano. WOW! This is stunning. Such a complete wine. It has everything and all the right places. A density and richness of dark fruit. Long, lingering and delicious. The richness is perfectly tempered by exceptional tannins of depth. This has been expertly macerated, the time on skins during ferment and just following the completion of the alcoholic fermentation is apparently around 40 days. That time has woven, truffles
$239
$229ea in any 3+
$219ea in any 6+

Albino Rocca ‘Angelo’ Barbaresco 2019

Nebbiolo | Piedmont, Barbaresco

In hommage to Angelo this goes back to his father’s days when blending was the norm. A truly beautiful blend. The gentle fruit handling and longer maceration or lunga macerazione (55 days here) has yielded a lovely perfume, a savoury core of fruit with delicacy and persistence. The tannins are wonderful. There’s a little truffle, a little liquorice, a little of lots of things coming to play. This is a wine worthy of being a hommage! Each parcel is picked separately, 3-4 days apart, and added
$241
$231ea in any 3+
$221ea in any 6+
Jesus wept on the Bones of Saint Gratto! The very blood of Christ!Stunning. If I ever made a wine of this caliber I’d retire on the high.Galloni’s note is bang on! The acid-tannin complex steps up again from the ‘standard’ Riserva. The tannins are layered, of depth, fine and long. You can ever so easily lose yourself in the glass! Mind-boggling complexity!"The 2015 Gattinara Riserva Osso San Grato marries finesse with power in grand style. Rose petal, sage, mint, sweet pi
$248
$238ea in any 3+
$228ea in any 6+