How to build a wine cellar: a guide to Italian wines

Italy has many wines that deserve a place in a decent cellar because they really do improve with time in bottle. And it’s not just the reds.

The most obvious candidates are the Bs: Barolo, Barbaresco and Brunello di Montalcino. Barolo and Montalcino both produce some wines worth ageing for years and years, perhaps decades, such as Monfortino and Mascarello in Barolo and Biondi Santi in Montalcino. But Barbaresco, which is Barolo’s neighbour in Piemonte and also based on the hauntingly perfumed Nebbiolo grape, almost invariably produces wines that mature much faster and rarely need more than five years in the cellar. By contrast, the most serious Barolo from the most tannic vintages might require 10 years.

Now that Barolo and, to a certain extent, Barbaresco are so fashionable, better value can often be found in Nebbiolo-based wines grown north of the Langhe hills in the so-called Alto Piemonte. Here, Colline Novaresi, Gattinara, Lessona, Ghemme, Boca and Bramaterra are the names to look for. They may not offer the consistency of the more famous zones to the south but there are some gems.

And then, almost in Switzerland, there is Valtellina made from Nebbiolo, called Chiavennasca here. It is grown on steep, south-facing subalpine slopes that produce tantalisingly small quantities of lively, mineral-fresh wines very much in the current fashionable idiom.

The other major concentration of cellar candidates is in central Italy, notably Tuscany, where the much-improved savoury Sangiovese grape rules. Montalcino is one of the warmer wine regions of Tuscany, so it’s not surprising that Brunello di Montalcino represents the most concentrated example of wines based on Sangiovese. Fine Brunello combines richness with finesse and can repay 10 and occasionally more years’ ageing in bottle.

Brunello has long been admired as one of Italy’s classic wines. Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, from a zone south-east of Montalcino, is still playing catch-up. But the development I am most thrilled by is the recent rehabilitation of the reputation of Chianti Classico, wine from the heartland of Chianti country.

At one time, Chianti Classicos were leavened with pale-skinned grapes and often depended on heavier reds imported from warmer regions to give them colour and heft, which blurred their personalities. Now the wine is much more likely to be based entirely on top-quality Sangiovese vines (like Brunello) and it is a serious cellar candidate.

It still tends to be less expensive than Brunello but, because many of the Chianti Classico vineyards are higher and cooler than those of Montalcino, they are arguably better equipped to withstand climate change.

I love the fact that Chianti Classico uniquely expresses Tuscany, unlike the other major group of Tuscan reds that are prized by many wine collectors, Bordeaux blends made on the Tuscan coast in the image of trailblazing Sassicaia. The zone is generally considered too warm for Sangiovese, and Cabernet Franc is an increasingly popular ingredient, but these Italian answers to classed-growth Bordeaux certainly respond well to a bit of bottle age, though probably less than traditional red bordeaux. Summers are hot. There are three really expensive wines here: Sassicaia, Ornellaia and Ornellaia’s stratospherically priced Merlot offshoot Masseto, but new producers continue to flood in and their wines are not (yet) as expensive.

One very similar wine, inspired by Sassicaia but made in cooler climes and much less expensive, is San Leonardo, made on a family estate near Lake Garda in the north.

Grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon, with thick skins that are high in the preservative tannin, make wines that are obvious cellar candidates. Umbria, to the south of Tuscany, can field a prime example, Sagrantino, the speciality of the commune of Montefalco.

Further south in the hills inland from Naples is the land of one of my favourite grapes, Aglianico, whose tannins need such a long ripening period that the harvest can be as late as November. Taurasi is the classic, longest-lived wine based on Aglianico but Aglianico del Vulture is a useful substitute, whose quality varies considerably but it can mature a bit earlier.

Even further south, in the no man’s land of Calabria, old grape varieties are being discovered that can produce classic, long-lived wines too. Walter Speller, Italy editor on JancisRobinson.com, recommends Sergio Arcuri’s Aris Classico Riserva Cirò.

Sardinia produces a few stellar reds, such as Barrua and Terre Brune, but the focus in the past decade or two has been on Sicily, in particular on wines grown on Etna’s lava-formed terraces. The main red-wine grape here is the transparent Nerello Mascalese but I’m not convinced that the wines need that long in bottle. These are gorgeous wines that would be fun to have in a cellar but you could also drink them pretty soon after purchase.

With all this choice of reds, it would be easy to overlook Italian white wines but that would be a shame. I have been lucky enough to taste proof of the impressive longevity of Pieropan’s Soaves, Umani Ronchi’s Verdicchio, Mastroberardino’s Fiano di Avellino, Querciabella’s Batàr and, of course, the extraordinary Peter Pan of a wine that is Valentini’s Trebbiano d’Abruzzo, whose origins are shrouded in mystery. There are many, many more Italian white wines, such as those based on Etna’s Carricante grapes and Villa Bucci’s Verdicchio, that are serious enough to deserve a place in any curious collector’s cellar.

Tasting notes, scores and suggested drink dates on Purple Pages of JancisRobinson.com. International stockists on Wine-searcher.com

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