Renzo Castella, Langhe Nebbiolo “Madonnina”

This is as good a time as any to reveal one way you can game our system to your advantage: When you see a “Langhe Nebbiolo” offered on SommSelect, grab it. It’s the same strategy I’d apply to the “Bourgogne Rouge” wines you see here: There are a lot of them out there, but we’re constantly sifting through the mass in search of category-busters like today’s wine from Renzo Castella. These are the stealth bombers in the SommSelect arsenal, wines that hide behind generic-seeming labels and modest price tags but blow you away once the cork is pulled.And with Langhe Nebbiolo especially, the tendency to over-achieve is built in: Most of the time, we’re talking about grapes grown in the same vineyards that produce Barolo and Barbaresco, and even a “little brother” to a Barolo or Barbaresco is going to be more wine than nine out of 10 reds it goes up against—especially at this price point! Renzo Castella’s nuanced 2018 is just such a wine: a “baby” Barolo that is, in fact, all grown up. It’s go