Or go a little crazy and find a Marquette. I’ve been producing Marquette since 2013.
Agreed. I don’t have much experience, but I believe some Xinomavro can be more on the extracted/dark side, so you’ll have to choose carefully. This one might fit the bill:
https://www.cellartracker.com/m/my/notes?q=Vaeni+Naoussa+Coop.+Xinomavro+Grande+Réserve&ac=1
Etna Rosso, Bierzo or old Cru Beaujolais.
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Both Kir-Yianni and Thymiopoulos should be fairly easy to find, reasonably priced and nicely representative. Both producers make multiple bottlings. Boutari is also easy to find, but I usually like bottlings from the other two better.
I’ve often played with brown-bagging a Burgundy, a Barolo/Barbaresco and a Naoussa and serving them double-blind to wine people. Depending on which wines and vintages you choose, it’s not at all hard to fool people, even those with a lot of experience.
And then we all get to drink the wines!
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Yes, Rayas and des Tours Vacqueyras …
and good Austrian St. Laurent (there are also weak ones)
They won’t taste the same, but I’d argue are broadly in the same ballpark:
- Mencia
- Fumin
Schioppettino tastes like a peppery pinot noir to me.
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That was my immediate reaction.
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I agree with you on this until the wines are fairly old, and that goes not just for the Langhe but also Alto Piemonte and Valtellina, IMO.
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I don’t find the valtellina wines I drink (mostly arpepe crus) have anywhere near the structure of barolo/barbaresco.
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I’m not saying that they have as much structure as wines from the Langhe, but there is still a strong tannic and acidic component to these wines, at least IMO. Ar.Pe.Pe. for instance always seems very, very austere to me when young. The fruit character has some similarity to pinot, but there is a lot of structure there. Again, that changes a good deal with age, but then, that is the case for many wines.
I should add that there are entry level wines from Alto Piemonte, often aged in tank, that show more forward with less structure and might be better ringers, then there are wines from Gattinara and Ghemme for instance which are extremely structured. Vintage factor is big too. As in the Langhe, '20s are atypically forward and open.
I haven’t found that to be the case with recent vintages. The 13 sassella reigna, for example was 0% austere on release.
In general I’ve found the wines to have nice fruit in recent years.
I think certain highly aromatic brunello producers can come off as pinot. Maybe more so than a lot of barolo. Stella di Campalto pre-2015 would be a good bet (even the 2015 Rosso would be great). She is producing later vintages so hot that they wouldn’t pass as burgundy (the 2019 is up to 15% ABV…). Cool vintage barbaresco also a great option. And I second the recommendation for cru Etna Rossa. So much minerality from the high altitude single-vineyard bottlings. The strange and wonderful thing about pinot is that these other grape varieties can mimic burgundy far better than a willamette valley pinot IMO. Its such a terroir sponge.
I think brunello has too much body for that…
Swiss GaGas (Gamaret, Garanoir) is another option. Often mixed with Pinot.
It’s incredibly producer specific. I’d agree that 90%+ wouldn’t work. Just trying to throw some interesting suggestions since the more obvious have already been covered in the thread.
Mourvedre 
Maybe an aged Chateau Simone Palette Rouge?
Petit Rouge from Aosta, Rouge de Valais in Switzerland may be the same or related.
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You’ve set quite a challenge for yourself. I don’t see the Barolos at that age resembling Burgundy much. Way too much tannin, and they would be 1.5% or 2% higher in alcohol than the typical Bourgogne.
For flavors and structure, I think trousseau and mencia (e.g., Bierzo) would be much better bets if you’re looking for something akin to a Bourgogne. If you can find it, kalecik karası from Turkey has aromas and a light color that are surprisingly close to pinot.
Circa 2006, I served four 1999 wines together blindly at a dinner that were surprisingly hard to identify:
- Monthelie-Duhairet - Volnay -Champans
- Produttori di Barbaresco - Barbaresco normale
- Mastrojanni - Brunello di Montalcino
- Lopez de Heredia - Rioja (I think the Tondonia, but it could have been the Bosconia)
The Rioja was the outlier because of all the oak. But the Volnay was very old-fashioned and somewhat tight and tannic, and the Brunello was atypically light and elegant, so they were hard to tell from each other or the Barbaresco.
I considered this a great success, but I’m not sure I’d attempt it again and risk spoiling my record.
Footnote: Some vintages of the LdH Bosconia, such as 2010, are quite Burgundian and aren’t so dominated by oak.
The lesson, I think, is to choose the individual wines very carefully.
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