Roero Riserva La Val dei Preti 2022, Matteo Correggia

La Val dei Preti shows Roero Nebbiolo at its most elegant: sandy-soiled, perfumed, and structured without trying to win a staring contest. The 2021 vintage brings classic Nebbiolo aromas of red cherry, cranberry, rose, dried herbs, licorice, tobacco, and a little cedar-toned spice. The palate is medium-bodied and precise, with fine tannins, bright acidity, and a savory mineral thread that keeps the fruit focused. It has the grip you want from Nebbiolo, but the texture is more silk than iron gate. This is a beautiful match for mushroom risotto, roasted pork, braised chicken, lamb, aged cheeses, or anything involving truffle, because Piedmont does enjoy making a point. About the Winery Matteo Correggia was a true visionary in Roero, Italy. He saw the potential of his land before many others and worked hard to put it on the map. Although Matteo passed away many years ago, his children and widow have taken over the family business, and his son, Giovanni, now runs the show! Roero is a small town to the north of the more famous Piedmont wine regions, Barolo and Barbaresco, but more importantly, it is on the other side of the Po river, and its soils are much younger. Even more importantly, those soils are loaded with sand. And seashells! When you come to the store, ask us about the seashells we saw when we visited this wonderful place in 2013. Sand has a tendency to bring out the aromatics of wine grapes, especially when compared with the clay soils of Barolo and Barbaresco. So even though the grapes grown in this commune are the same ones grown in other parts of northern Italy, their expression is more exuberant, and in our eyes, more enticing!