2024 Adriano Marco e Vittorio Sauvignon Basarico Langhe 750 ml

Two decades ago, Marco and Vittorio Adriano did the near unthinkable: They planted Sauvignon Blanc just down the hill from their family winery in Barbaresco.

It would have been a prime spot to plant Nebbiolo, but they had a hunch that the white grape would excel in the cooler part of the site. And boy were they right. Now, the vines are in their primes and the result is one of the most impressive Sauvignon Blancs we’ve tasted for its price.

Italian Sauvignon Blanc has long been a staple of Wine Access members, but most of it comes from Friuli, in the northeast corner of the boot. But the most exciting frontier for Sauvignon is on the other side of Northern Italy, in Piedmont.

We tried our first Langhe Sauvignon Blanc a while ago, but the last decade or so has seen the grape take off in popularity—and prestige. Gaja’s groundbreaking bottling, which put the grape on the map in Piedmont, now commands well north of $150.But the top terroirs for Sauvignon Blanc in the Langhe are still being figured out, so there are values to be had if you turn over the right rocks. 

The vines for this bottling dig their roots into Lequio soils, where gray calcareous marls alternate with sand. It's the same formation that the signature Adriano Barbaresco, Sanadaive, comes from. Those prized soils produce poised wines with beautiful tension, soaring aromatics, and exceptional complexity. The Adriano family harvests their Sauvignon Blanc ripe enough to create delicious citrus fruit flavors, intriguing minerality, and basil-tinged herbal notes.

It’s fermented and aged in stainless steel to preserve freshness and purity, and then rested in bottle for eight months or so to allow the flavors to harmonize. It’s complex enough to go with a celebratory crab taglioni, but at this price we’re just as likely to open it on a Tuesday with a caesar salad and the new 4K remaster of His Girl Friday.