"Francesco Rinaldi remains one of the under the radar gems for readers who appreciate classically built wines that remain affordable. The single vineyard wines are often compelling, but readers should not ignore the straight Barolo, which is often one of the best wines in its peer group, and also very fairly priced.” - Antonio Galloni, Vinous
What makes a wine so expensive? Well, of course there are factors at work such as quality, supply and demand, and then a third, very powerful force - consumer perception.
Over the last fifteen or so years, we've seen prices for certain "unicorn" or collector wines go through the roof, often selling for more than ten times the price today than they did before they became collector items. Have these wines improved five to tenfold in quality? Hardly. Are they necessarily better than the best examples of their peers? Sometime, but usually not. When somebody decides to pay an exorbitant price for a wine, they are presuming that this wine is vastly superior to others in the same category. If, for example, someone opened up a $300 and a $100 Barolo from the same vintage and vineyard to taste, most people would presume that the $300 wine would be significantly better than the $100. Otherwise, how could you justify the price difference? Consumer perception. I've seen this firsthand countless times. Tasters get all excited to taste the "glory" wine and are already foaming at the mouth and ready to praise it before the cork is even pulled while ignoring the often superior, but less expensive and prestigious wine. I see it all the time with very experienced tasters! You can also easily detect it with professional reviewers (no names).
Here we have a very straightforward apples-to-apples example - two outstanding Barolo producers both making wine from the Grand Cru vineyards of Brunate and Cannubi in the same vintage: Francesco Rinaldi and Giuseppe Rinaldi. Both producers have been making great Barolo since the early 1960s in a very traditional style. While Giuseppe was more consistent up until the last fifteen years or so, the gap has closed and now Francesco Rinaldi wines are the equal to Giuseppe Rinaldi wines. So, under normal circumstances, one would expect the Baroli of these two wineries to sell in the same, or at least similar price range. This is not the case. Because of consumer perception and the "trophy-like" status of Giuseppe Rinaldi wines, there is a price difference that is not justified by what's in the bottle. A bottle of Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo, Brunate will set you back $400-$500 while a bottle of the 2021 Francesco Rinaldi Barolo, Brunate is $79.99. Is Giuseppe's Brunate six or seven times better than that of Francesco’s? No. Is Giuseppe's Brunate even better than Francesco's? While that is debatable, I don't think so.
“The 2021 Barolos are finessed, elegant wines that will delight Piedmont fans…Two thousand twenty-one is a superb vintage for Barolo…The 2021s are marked by good color, open aromatics, pliant fruit and finessed, ripe tannins. At the very pinnacle of excellence, the finest 2021s are compelling and profoundly expressive of place. They are richer than the generally austere 2019s but more vibrant than the open-knit 2020s, making 2021 the most harmonious and consistent of the group.” - Antonio Galloni, Vinous
Do the right thing and place a bet on Francesco Rinaldi. We did.
These wines are being offered with special pre-arrival pricing. Act now to secure an allocation and discounted pricing on six-packs (or more). Mixed six-pack and cases will also receive discounts. Six-packs ordered by email or through the website will have discounts applied manually when we process your order.
The wines in this pre-arrival offer are due to arrive in late April/early May.
An now a word about tariffs…The new U.S. administration loves tariffs and imposed tariffs on Italian wine during their last reign. At the moment, tariffs on Italian goods, including wine, have not been mentioned, but we all know this could change in an instant. Should the wines in this offer be subject to tariffs, the prices will most likely go up. If this happens, any orders taken from this offer will be re-evaluated and you will have the opportunity to to cancel your order. Keep your fingers crossed!
None of the wines in this offer have been professionally reviewed yet, so we’ve included reviews of the 2019s for reference since it the most similar recent vintage.
