Jan 8, 2012
2012 Picks: *51* Top Italian Wines for Under $20
Michael starts the New Year off with his go-to list of the best Italian wines of 2012 for under 20 bucks. This is the first in a series of posts on Italian wines awarded the prestigious 3 Bicchieri (three glasses) rating by Gambero Rosso for 2012.
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Italy’s best wines on the cheap.
Looking for great Italian wines for under 20 bucks? There’s no need to spend $50+ to find a great bottle of wine if you’re willing to get off the beaten path and try some smaller producers in regions outside of the classic biggies of Barolo, Chianti, and Brunello.
Most Americans are looking for good wine value these days, shunning the expensive stuff and focusing on wines under $20. The good news is that for Italian wine lovers, there’s an emerging sweet spot for delicious and interesting Italian wines in the $14 to $20 range.
Gambero Rosso, the Italian foodie club, recently released their annual Vini d’Italia wine reference guidebook (and the translated-to-English version Italian Wines in mid-2012). Their trusted panel of Vino Italiano experts tasted over 20,000 wines from 2,350 producers (yes, that many) and awarded just 375 wines with their prestigious 3 bicchieri (“three glasses”) rating for 2012.
What do many of these lucky Italian wine producers do when they find out their wines have won a 3 bicchieri rating? Well, they raise their prices, of course! Unfortunately, this puts many of these stellar wines out of reach of most lovers of Vino Italiano.
Here’s the good news: not all of the winning Italian wine producers instantly raise their prices, and there are many delicious 3 bicchieri wines that stay around the $20 price point (“sotto €15” as they say in the guidebook). For 2012, there are exactly *51* of these 3 bicchieri winners that are well within reach of Italian wine lovers like us.
Want to buy direct from us? After years of direct importing and selling our wines wholesale to our restaurant and retail partners, we’ve decided to make our best Italian wine finds available directly to you, our fellow lovers of Italian wines. In the coming months we’ll be opening the online 
Fanfare for Vino Italiano
It’s nearly summer here in the States and with the hot weather comes lighter food fare and, yes, lighter wines. All over Europe the usual reds and whites are set aside for another time, and the pink wines from the previous year’s harvest are rolled out en masse. If you’re not already a regular summer European Pink Drinker, forget what you know about pink wines. We’re not talking about “White Zinfandel” and it’s sweet cousins, the rosato wines of Italy are mostly dry – and perfect fare for the lighter dishes of summer.
Bubbly and fun: 
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