2020 Matteo Correggia Roero 750 ml

Barolo and Barbaresco get the glory—and the luxury pricing—but when we’re looking to spend our hard-earned dollars on Nebbiolo, we often turn to the Correggia family’s beautiful bottling from the Roero.

They’re the signature producer for the area, which is just north of Alba. Roero is historically best known for Arneis—the signature white grape of the Piedmont—but Matteo Correggia nearly single-handedly raised the profile for the region’s reds, and Correggia remains the standard that other Roero rosso is judged by. Antonio Galloni declared that “no producer within Roero has done more to elevate the stature of the region than Matteo Correggia.”

From early days, Matteo Correggia’s bottlings were championed by legends of Barolo like Elio Altare and Giorgio Rivetti from La Spinetta. When Matteo passed unexpectedly in 2001, they were so committed that they helped take over the vinification and production of the estate, helping to transition to the current winemaking team—who are making some of the best wines in the history of the Roero.

The key distinction between the Roero and the Nebbiolos of Barolo and Barbaresco is in the soils and climate of the two areas. Sites in the Roero have more Alpine influence, with chilly winds that cool the vineyards and soils that lean towards sand or broken-down sandstone.

That combination creates Nebbiolo with more ethereal qualities than farther south in the Piedmont. In the hands of masters like Correggia’s winemaker, Luca Rostagno, you end up with a red wine that combines Nebbiolo’s beautiful dark-cherries, red roses, and forest floor notes with a vibrant minerality and a seductive texture. It’s built for Pinot Noir lovers—especially in a warm, charming vintage like 2020—and is beyond versatile at the table.