This is a fun and versatile entry-level wine to pair with roast chicken or spicy pork. The 2020 Langhe Nebbiolo Perbacco offers bright fruit and dried blueberry with hints of cherrywood and spice. The effect is mild but nicely balanced, and the wine ups its food-friendly ante with fresh acidity to cut though cream or cheese.

The 2019 Langhe Nebbiolo Perbacco shows a rusty or earthy side that feels more pronounced in this vintage. This wine represents an assembly of all the wine that is left over after the final blend of the Barolo Castiglione is confirmed (at year three). This wine sees two years in large oak casks, but this 40,000-bottle release hits the market more than one year earlier than the Barolo. With a silky, lean texture, Perbacco is a good introduction to Nebbiolo.

The Vietti 2018 Langhe Nebbiolo Perbacco is a charming wine, both delicate and easygoing, that makes good on a promise to deliver basic Nebbiolo intensity and varietal purity. Small berry aromas, cassis and chopped mint emerge from the bouquet. To the palate, the wine is simple and streamlined, with mildly drying tannins on the close. Some 40,000 bottles were made.

A wine with a diehard fan club, the Vietti 2017 Langhe Nebbiolo Perbacco drinks like a young Barolo but costs a fraction of the price. I really need to say little more because that accurately sums up the vast appeal of this classic and versatile Nebbiolo. The bouquet is expressive and fresh with wild berries, blue flowers, spice and tobacco. Besides a bit more color concentration that you might notice in the wine's appearance, Perbacco magically shows no sign of the hot vintage.

Luca Currado likes to remind me that this wine could qualify as a full-fledged Barolo. Barrels not used in the final Barolo Castiglione blend are used to make the 2016 Langhe Nebbiolo Perbacco. In fact, its very name “Perbacco” translates into a somewhat corny “golly gosh” because that was the reaction Luca’s mom had when she first tasted the wine and was told it was not a Barolo. “Perbacco, it tastes like Barolo,” was her comment—and a legend was born. The Vietti family, along with Bartolo Mascarello and Dott G Cappellano back in the day, had battled for some variation of a Rosso di Barolo in the appellation laws. That never happened, but Langhe Nebbiolo is a concept that follows that same idea: you get great Nebbiolo quality at a fraction of the price. Today, Langhe Nebbiolo is one of the fastest-growing categories in the entire wine region. This beautiful vintage, with its balanced fruit and freshness, is a perfect example.