2021 Giuseppe Cortese Barbaresco 750 ml

It’s nearly impossible to overdo the praise for Barbaresco’s Rabajà cru.

It’s one of the most important vineyards planted to Nebbiolo, a crown jewel of Barbaresco and one of just three sites in the area that Vinous rates as “Exceptional,” their highest classification. Since Rabajà wines tend to cost a mint, Giuseppe Cortese’s 2021 Barbaresco—grown mainly on Rabajà in a top-shelf vintage and bearing 94 points from Vinous and Kerin O’Keefe, who literally wrote the defining book on Barolo and Barbaresco—stands as one of the great deals in Italian wine. 

Giuseppe Cortese founded his winery in 1971, during the dawn of Barbaresco’s modern era. He had the vision to realize that the future of Piemontese wine was in vineyard ownership, not buying grapes from small farmers, as his family had done.

So he bought land in Rabajà, the most prestigious vineyard in the hamlet his family called home. He also remodeled the winery, cleaning up its vinification techniques and cellar to lay the groundwork for quality, traditionally made wines for generations to come. In the 1990s, his son Pier Carlo came back from the prestigious Enological School of Alba and ratcheted the quality up yet another level.

In 2021, Pier Carlo had a dream vintage to work with. From what we’ve tasted, the year is an absolute standout—one of the best three or four of the last decade. Enjoying a warm (not hot) summer and a dry and cool (but not cold) fall, the grapes were able to ripen slowly on the vines, allowing producers to pick deep into October, the mark of many classic vintages in Piemonte.