Australia vs Italy… Nebbiolo style.
Tom and Wade line up six killer bottles for a proper blind tasting showdown – three Italian classics (Barolo, Barbaresco, Valtelina) against three of the best Aussie Nebbiolos we could get our hands on. Who wins? You’ll need watch to find out!
We’ve got wines from Masolino, G.D. Vajra, and Ar.Pe.Pe. going head-to-head with Lambert, Castagna, and Protero by Steve Pannell. It’s our most serious lineup yet.
It’s all blind, with the wines all rated on our proprietary 110-point scale, and yes, we somehow managed to guess every single wine correctly for the first time ever.
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What we tasted:
2022 Massolino Barbaresco
2021 G.D Vajra Barolo Albe
2023 ArPePe Rosso di Valtellina
2021 Castagna Barbarossa Nebbiolo
2019 Protero Capo Nebbiolo
🍷 Chapters
00:00 – Welcome to the new studio & naming competition
01:41 – Setting up the Nebbiolo Showdown (Australia vs Italy)
03:35 – Why Nebbiolo is the world’s most addictive grape
06:00 – Wine #1
08:25 – Wine #2
11:30 – Wine #3
15:00 – Wine #4
19:00 – Wine #5
22:00 – Wine #6
25:00 – Taste-off: Italy vs Australia (the final showdown)
27:30 – The reveal (did we actually get them all right?)
30:00 – Results & reflections – who won?
33:00 – Final thoughts on Aussie Nebbiolo & what’s next
💬 What’s your pick — Italy or Australia? Have you had a Nebbiolo that could take on Barolo?
🍷 Shop all the wines here: https://www.differentdrop.com/collections/new-arrivals
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21 Comments
110 all the way!! Until something is a 111 at least
In year 11 at school I got 104% in my final economics exam, so I don’t see a problem with your innovative industry leading 110 point scale 😂
The new digs look great. The lighting over the wines is excellent, those nebbs looked spot on for colour ✅. Most vids on YouTube get the wine colour wrong.
The cameras are focusing on the wine glasses…might need a tweak, we want to see your authoritive dials 😂
Loved the nebbs – great video thanks 🤩 you’ve made this Italian Wine Ambassador’s day 🎉
Love 110. Automatically the best wine score system in existence. Industry innovation of the highest order.
Can viewers divide by 1.1 to get a 100 point score? Or do you not recommend that?
Speaking with my experience finding great success as a buyer of Nebbiolo for retail in London, there is always an understated appellation in Piedmont that delivers the best quality/value – Lessona – and I never bothered with Valtellina. I was the first to buy wines from the creators of the appellation, Tenute Sella, and our sales went bananas because they delivered such high quality and perfumed precision for 40% less money. We would sell 20 bottles of Lessona for every 6 Albe from Vajra to give you an idea, and 20 Costa della Sesia for 6 Vajra Langhe. Seek it out gents it will be huge turnover. I went to a Barolo tasting a few weeks ago and found a winery that is poised to go big but still has low distribution abroad called Desio. It is rare to find a producer focused on Barolo to also produce top notch Langhe Nebb and Barbera. Keep up the good work on these vids, they are great!
Love the new studio boys. Nothing beats wine and a bit of Richard Mercer 106.5. Keep up the awesome vids!
For those of us not from Australia or that familiar with Aussie wine lingo, please clarify “Aussie bush” – what exactly that refers to and whether that is a positive or negative note?…I may have had experience with it, or not. Depends.
Loving the new studio guys 👏 looks like a great spot to hunt those elusive 110 pointers 🍷Looking forward to plenty more DD content — George
Great episode and love new digs fellas… keen to get into a few more Nebs.. Here’s my take on a new name for the great new studio The “Cellar Sanctum”
if riesling was challenging, this was very easy. but amusingly enough for the some what of a same reason. meaning Nebbiolo obviously can be grown anywhere but it does not really translate terroir but it gets lost in it. like you said, Australian Nebbiolo feels like a Australian red wine, probably closer related to Syrah than anything Piedmont related. there are varieties that manage to express themselves in almost all terroirs but there are varieties that need very specific set of parameters to be memorable. Nebbiolo is the later ones. I think for Nebbiolo to express itself, it needs to “live on the edge” it needs place that it barely manages to get ripe. in other words, if I was investing in new varieties in Australia, I would definitely not waste my time on Neb and Barbaresco/Barolo is my favorite wine region of the world😅
The spitroom
Luke’s 2012 Nebbiolo one of the best Aussie wines I’ve tasted 🔥
I think Pizzini in the King valley were the first to grow Nebbi in Australia though I may stand corrected?
Granite Belt in QLD has a produced a couple of great Nebbi (in warmer years with no frost/hail) but very limited production & only very small sites. Cheers 🥂
Nutbush! Nutbush!!!
Do do do, ah waaah do a do wa!
Nutbush City Limits!
Doo doo do, ah waaah do a do waa!
Great video as always lads!
I think the studio should be called ‘Dry Bucket’
A classic example of Australia still trying to work out what grape varieties work in certain regions. I visited Julian last year and it was a real education. He doesn't particularly like points scoring from what I remember…but his Nebbiolo was great.
Great episode as always and hopefully the first of many for "Studio Swirl" 👏
Great video again guys! And the new studio looks awesome. I just feel for you guys DownUnder, The Massolino Barbaresco is approx 57 AUD in Europe or 32 €, thats doubble the price for you, cracy! Keep on working 🙂
All roads lead to Valtellina
Love the content gents . Maybe drop zone as new studio name
You guys have got the best jobs on the planet.
Gets better each week. Nice work.
Guzzlers Green Room (or Garage or Garrison) for the new studio
Surely the new studio should be named 110!
was in italy November 2024. being able to buy Nebbiolo off the shelf at a supermarket for 10-15 euro was a great compared to the $A40 in wine stores in oz. Della Fay Nebbiolo (from Margaret River) is another wine region one would not expect to find.