Donnas Rosso 2019

This is a gorgeous mountain wine. The benefits of Alpine Nebbiolo is that you have freshness from high elevation, but you also have a good amount of sunlight which gives the fruit plenty of time to mature and achieve optimal ripeness. That means you get wines with gorgeous acidity, some racy minerality, and a lot of pure mountain fruit.

The downside, one that the consumer never sees, is the back-breaking labor involved in farming and harvesting the grapes at this picturesque little winery. I included the picture just to give you a glimpse of what it looks like. It’s as hard of vineyard work as you’re going to find, but it’s done with a smile at Caves de Donnas, one of the top producers in all of Valle d’Aosta.

They’ve gotta be drinking their own product to be so happy all the time.

As the cold temps roll in, this is the perfect Nebbiolo to keep you warm — a treat with or without food. And the best part is that it’s not Barolo, not Barbaresco, nor the increasingly expensive Langhe Nebbiolos which are creeping into the $30-40 range. The Donnas represent a new wave of Nebbiolo that is both affordable and 100% worth seeking out.