Best Italian Wines in the SGV

Over the past year, we have worked hard to bring in a new selection of affordable, but delicious, Italian wines. 

From the quartz and granite soils of the Italian Alps to the red clay soil of Sicily, Howie’s Market has got you covered. 

Here are a few of our favorites

Barnet Vallée d’Aoste Nebbiolo

This is alpine wine from the Italian-French region of Valle d’Aoste. 

The vines grow in terraced vineyards cut from granite and quartz, producing a earthy, spicy, almost herbaceous Nebiolo.

Monsecco Pratogrande

Founded in 1872, this vineyard in the Novara Hills near Milan produces another earthy Nebiolo wine with a savory, medium body.

Alberto Quacquarini Serrapetrona DOC

Grown in the Macerata Hills near the Adriatic Coast, this wine is made with Vernaccia Nera, an ancient Italian grape which is close a cousin to Grenache. 

It’s a light bodied wine with an intense ruby red color and notes of fresh cherry blossoms. 

Melini Chianti Borghi d’Elsae  Wine Enthusiast reviewed this Chianti in 2019: “Fruity aromas of wild raspberry and red cherry lead the nose. The aromas follow on to the lightbodied, easy-drinking palate along with a hint of clove and pliant tannins. It’s simple but medium bodied.” COS Nero Di Lupo From limestone bedrock under red clay soil, COS’ Nero Di Lupo combines underlying notes of "leather, licorice, smoke and the essence of violet.” We were pleasantly surprised to see that Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate reviewed the 2018 vintage of this small production organic wine, rating it at 91 points: "Here's a wine I haven't tasted in a while. A pure expression of Nero d'Avola, aged simply in cement vats, the 2018 Nero di Lupo shows loads of varietal purity with summer dark cherry, tilled earth, fennel herb and that ever-present aroma that reminds me of Sicilian olive or caper. Like all the wines in the COS portfolio, this one shows extreme precision and fine focus." These amazing wines are all under $30 and available today in Howie’s Wine Cellar.