Nervi Conterno Gattinara Vigna Valferana 2020

Most people know Piemonte for Barolo and Barbaresco – but there’s another DOCG up in Northern Piemonte that crafts exquisitely lifted and luminous 100% Nebbiolo red wines: Gattinara. This 2020 vintage from the region’s oldest winery offers penetrating acid, wicked minerality, and incredible aromatics... all for the lowest price in the U.S.

Founded in 1906 by Luigi Nervi in the heart of Gattinara – a historic Northern Piemonte appellation cradled by alpine foothills – Nervi-Conterno happens to be the longest-standing winery in the Gattinara DOCG. Its vineyards trace their roots deep into volcanic soils, giving the wines a tensile elegance that express stony minerality and mountain air. When Roberto Conterno – already revered for his stewardship of Giacomo Conterno – took the reins in 2018, it felt like a homecoming, uniting two pillars of Piemontese tradition.

While lesser known here in the States than its Piemonte regional counterparts of Barolo and Barbaresco, Gattinara is sort of like the super-chic, yet under-the-radar cousin, producing captivating Nebbiolo wines grown among iron-rich volcanic soils that generously exude the striking minerals from their place of origin. This 2020 Gattinara Vigna Valferana comes from the steep Valferana cru at the foothills of Monte Rosa, where the cool, breezy, alpine climate and mineral-rich, iron-tinged earth produce a wine with remarkable tension, lift, and precision.

“What makes the Conterno Nervi 2020 Gattinara Vigna Valferana so irresistible are those ferrous metallic and mineral notes that define the bouquet.” – Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, 95 points

In the glass, it slowly unfurls with crushed rose petals and wild strawberries first, and then a darker register of blood orange, tart cherry, and a cool streak of graphite that feels carved from stone. Some alpine herbs and dried thyme bring a windswept and quietly savory element, while firm, lacy tannins, bright acidity, and a mineral spine make the wine seem almost architectural. It finishes with a pomegranate, iron, and delicate balsamic lift, a signature of the unmistakable Gattinara style. This is Nebbiolo in a northern key – and we’re absolutely enamored. 

PAIRING IDEAS: Do up your smashburgers with a little added pizazz of gorgonzola, caramelized onion, and fig jam to really draw out the fruit and savory edges of this decadent wine.