2002 Piedmont Vintage

2002 Piedmont Vintage

The 2002 Piedmont Vintage was universally panned. Piedmont 2002 is your Pearl Harbor vintage (the movie, not the event). It sucked HARD. This vintage has serious cooties. Many producers couldn't salvage much from a vintage of heavy rain and hail. The Nebbiolo grape doesn't take kindly to being bashed about and soaked, those with Barbera vineyards fared better. Possibly the worst vintage for 50 years, the 2002 Piedmont range is thin on the ground due to limited production, most bottles occupy wine lists in bars and restaurants.

Why am I telling you about this? Aha! Two reasons. Firstly, and whimsically, I have just sat through 45 minutes of the most horrendous rain and hail storms I've ever seen, which on the 3rd of September in the heart of the Veneto must surely have taken their toll on what is already a trying vintage. Secondly, I'm telling you because in every situation there are winners and losers and with the 2002 Piedmont vintage there are many good wines that are under priced (especially considering the crazy 2004 prices). Try offering a 2002 to a Piedmont fan! The reputation of this vintage is so bad that every wine suffers that carries the year. The upshot of this negative publicity is a very real 40% discount on what these wines might normally sell for. No one wants the plague after all.

If you're loving Barolo and Barbaresco but don't love laying down $75+ a bottle and are looking for wine to drink within this year then 2002 can hold some real bargains. The real bargains with bum vintage wines come at restaurants. I wouldn't personally recommend ordering any high value wines at restaurants but bum vintages can offer the best value and are usually for drinking younger. Below I have compiled a list of the best rated Nebbiolo based wines from 2002 and, where possible, the saving you can make from the 2004 vintage. Prices are contrasted against the same wines from the same online stockists.

Top 5 2002 Bum Vintage recommendations

Pio Cesare Barolo - €23 - Saving of 47%

Reverdito Barolo Moncucco - €20 - Unreal price for one of the best Barolos made in '02

La Spinetta Barbaresco - €40 - Saving of 45%

Ca' Del Baio Barbaresco - €13 - 2004 Vintage retails at 230% more

Albino Rocca Barbaresco - €15 - Saving of 60%

Saving the best till last. Albino Rocca is a legend, to be picking up any vintage of this wine for €15, especially the best Barbaresco of 2002 at €15, bum vintage or not, this is QPR overload.

$22. TWENTY TWO DOLLARS! Snap this up right now. These 2002's are drinking perfectly this year. If you don't normally buy top label wines then this is your chance to get one of the Piedmont's top producers on your Thanksgiving table for TWENTY TWO dollars. I don't want to hear that Barbaresco is not a wine for Turkey, at this price, it's a wine for Turkey! Click here. I'm moving to the states for this bargain!

Don't get me wrong, on the whole these wines are not up to the 2004 or even the 2003 standard, I am not selling you on 2002. The vintage still sucks regardless of the price but the above wines don't suck as much as they could for the price! The 2002's can be hard to come by, not only because of limited production but also because stockists don't want them so when you do find them, and if you find one of the wines listed above, snap it up.

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Bum Vintage bargains! The book says AVOID, but what do you say? There's nothing finer than finding a bargain, what are your bum vintage bargain recommendations?

Where's Wino?

Where's Wino?

This weekend was not spent on the highways and byways of the Rhine or the grand boulevards of gay Paris nor even the Polish enclaves of South West London. This weekend was one of glorious duty with mama and papa Newtonelli, tying up the loose ends of my life in Venezia/Perugia/Roma in preperation for my imminent move to the glamorous beating heart of the wine world, Wimbledon (ok ok Earlsfield, but where's the illiteration in that?). In between the comune, post office and bank runs I made time to drink a boat load of vino and visit the Antonelli San Marco vineyards for a swift tasting sesh.

A beautiful place it is too. You can't really miss it. On the road into Montefalco both sides of the road are dominated for some distance by the vineyards of Antonelli San Marco. One of the largest (possible the, anyone know?) producers in Montefalco, Antonelli are set up for visitors, marking out all their vineyards with the wine for which the grapes make. Oooooh big deal? Believe me, in Italy it really is.

Part of the Strada Sagrantino and close to Paolo Bea this vineyard is worth a visit. I partook in a tasting of 6 of their wines, 4 reds, 2 whites and on this particular day wasn't all that impressed with the reds, excluding the 2004 Sagrantino Passito which is very close to pure raisin juice. I was pleasantly surprised in the quality of the whites especially at the price points. The basic 07 Grechetto was extremely aromatic and easy drinking and at €5 a bargain. The real star was the 100% Grechetto Vigna Tondo, aromatic and with some structure and complexity, for €9 it is something I recommend you seek out.

After my slightly disappointing visit we headed into Montefalco town to get some better Sagrantino at the wine restaurants that mark the main street to the central square of the town. If you are planning to visit Italy on a wine tour probably you are looking to the Piedmont, Veneto or Tuscany but if you've been there and done that, I strongly recommend a trip to Montefalco. The Sagrantino wines are a bit culty, tannic and could be termed inaccessible if you are new to wine but if you are looking for a true taste of Italy, a local grape accompanied by some great restaurants and typical Italian country views then a trip to Montefalco will be very rewarding. If, like me, you have to take a 6 hour train journey to get there, standing on the Intercity, 3 deep, next to the spacious cabins in 40°c heat while the panini trolley runs over your toes, it's a little less rewarding.

In between all this fun I squeezed in 3 bottles of wine to review for y'all here. The Ceretto Barbara d'Alba 2005, the George DuBoeuf Beajoulais Villages 2006 and the Chateau des Tours Cote du Rhone Reserve 2004.

Tut Tut, I know, more French wines, but if you saw a bottle of Beaujolais in a small supermarket in Perugia you would also make a grab for it. It called out to me. Plus, there has been a huge spat on Ebob about whether GdB is a hero or villain in Beaujolais, I vote hero. I wanted to see if the 2006 Bojo Villages would change my mind, even if this is a long way from the top bottling! Plus, I'm going through a Bojo phase!

Georges DuBoeuf Beaujolais Villages 2006 - BUY - €8

Light purple in the glass, good clarity. A pretty and powerful nose, floral and raspberry notes dominate, a little faux sugar. Mid bodied on the palate, some cherry and violet flavours. Simple and easy to drink. 85 Points

Ceretto Barbera d'Alba 2005 - PASS - €13

Dark purple in the glass quickly giving up notes of vanilla and dark fruits. Nice mineral flavours on the palate, good balance and a strong, long fruity finish. Pleasant, not stunning. In fact, for such a great name as Ceretto, a touch disappointing. 86 Points

Chateau des Tours Cote du Rhone Reserve 2004 - BUY - €20

Garnet red in the glass with faint orange hues this wine was very aromatic and I feel I opened it at the peak of it's evolution. Pretty nose of strawberries and coffee. An opulent and pleasant mouth feel, mid bodied wine but with a snappy finish. 90 Points

I don't strongly recommend any of these wines so wont produce any consumer advice on them.

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I'm sure most of you reading this have tried a GdB Beaujolais of some kind from Moulin-à-Vent to Nouveau. Do you love your Beaujolais? Or would you turn to Valpolicella as a replacement?