Why do you say that? Short vintages?
And are you talking prices in euros or dollars? Sooner or later, the euro has to fall against the dollar.
What’s happening with demand from Northern Europe? That drove the market in the mid-2000s, then dried up, as I understood it, when Europe went into recession.
From the Rare Wine Company today:
2009 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Cascina Francia $149.95
Looks like a big jump to me…
I’m a fan, but getting out of my league, especially for this wine.
May be its time to buy big in 2010. May be the watershed vintage for sought after producers (aka 2005 for Burgundy).
We will have a ton more info in the spring. Three days at Vinitaly and four days in Piedmont will give me a good handle on the wines. But pricing is still a question. Bill is on the ground there, soon he should be able to stop by Fracchia in Alba and see if the wines are on the shelf and the prices. Still it only goes so far as the prices here could be very different.
Are you going to pay me mileage from here to Alba? 
So who are the “super seconds” of Barolo and Barbaresco? I really like Nebbiolo, but to date I have been more of a Bordeaux drinker.
Are the likes of E. Grasso, Roagna, Vietti, and Pio Cesare the super seconds of Piedmonte (after the Montfortino, Giacosa, Gajas)?
Or has this topic been addressed in other threads recently?
Doesn’t really work like that in Piedmont. But for a short list of producers that are great and thankfully not at the top:
Vietti
G Mascarello
G Rinaldi
Produttori del Barbaresco
Aldo Conterno
Paitin
B Mascarello
Thanks, helpful. I’m a big fan of Produttori, I really like Paitin wines and Vietti too. Need to try the others.
In my question, I didn’t meant literally second growths in the Bordeaux 1855 sense of course, just what we BnB lovers might designate as the tier just below the Mount Olympus of wine makers in Piedmont. I ask as it is usually this group that sees prices spikes following inflation in the top group.
Bill - I thought the days of you billing were over? Next time you are in P. Savona just stroll down and take a look. I will reimburse you for a gelato from, Sacchero I think, if that is acceptable. If not pick your favorite and send me the bill.
I think you could argue that most of these are equivalent to super seconds, but that’s really semantic. I’d add, just for starters these:
Burlotto
Marcarini (certainly Brunate)
Brovia
Oddero
Cavallotto
Rizzi (Barbaresco)
I swear I put Brovia on my list. I guess I typed over it.
Prunotto?
The list above is where you should start.
Bought by Antinori, I think. (If not Antinori, somebody correct me.) i think never great, now apparently off most everybody’s radar, and I do not mean that in a good way. I think its flagship wines may Barberas these days…
Clients, yes, you, no! But the price will be right. You do not need to be admitted to the bar to check wine prices on a retailer’s shelf…
This is like calling the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees the next up and coming baseball franchises in MLB -
THE REAL NEXT HOT AREAS: Alto Adige, Baden, Roussillon, The Finger Lakes, Ribera del Duero and Chile’s coastal Pinot Noir sites -
Campanian whites.
Goodness me, no. Perish the thought. When and if that eventually happens, surely almost everyone will have been priced out of almost anything worth drinking. Surely the day that sees the great crus of Valdobbiadene become the next big thing would not be far away then .
Don’t forget Altare and Grasso…
I think the answer to the original question is clearly no. Prices have only really escalated for a handful of trophy bottlings (but not even all the trophy bottlings – has Gaja gone up that much in recent years?), plus a handful like Monprivato that are, regrettably but probably deservingly, moving into that category. There is still an ocean of very good Barolo and Barbaresco that isn’t the kind that gets buzz among elite geeks that is languishing on the shelves for $35-60, and is often steeply discounted on clearance.
And my experience has consistently been that Barolo and Barbaresco have a fairly narrow appeal, even among wine geeks, and especially with the broader population of people who buy quality wines (by that, I mean people who are not geeks but still buy $30+ bottles at real wine stores rather than the supermarket). They are unusual, need lengthy aging and/or aeration that most people don’t undertake, and people don’t easily understand them. They don’t feature ripe fruit prominently in the way that attracts a broader audience. I’ve seen it over and over again when I try to pour them for non-geeks.
I love the wines, I’ve loved visiting there on multiple occasions, and all that, so this isn’t me being negative about Piemonte. But I don’t think they’re anywhere close to being a wine that is going to cross over to a much broader audience. And combine that with the string of good-to-great vintages (what is it, 14 of the last 16?), and I don’t see prices taking off other than the few trophies becoming, as Stuart says, “trophier.” At most, I can see some modest gradual expansion of their share of the Italian aisle.
If you think of wines like movies, I think nebbiolo wines are like the better of the indie/foreign films. They don’t wow with size or effects or star power, but they get under your skin and make you think. A few will hit it big, most of the good ones will only be a hit within small circles of film geeks and cognoscenti, they’ll gross under $10 million at the box office, probably more people will brag about liking them than actually really do see and like them, and the big action films and romances and comedies (in this metaphor, the cabs and chardonnays and pinots) will make many multiples more dough. I think that’s Piemonte, and I’m cool with it.