Matteo Correggia Arneis DOCG 2012 (Piedmont)

Go over the Tanaro River from Barbaresco, or north of Alba, and you are in Roero. As with their Piedmontese neighbours, Arneis, Barbera and Nebbiolo grow across the Roero communes, with a sprinkling of the 'international' varieties. Arneis is grown for sparkling and still white wines here, as well as being used for co-fermentation with Nebbiolo.

Matteo Correggia took over his father's mixed farm in 1985 and until his death in 2001 drove many improvements in the viticulture, winemaking, marketing and reputation of the Roero. Correggia now manage over 20 hectares of vines on mainly sandy soils, with the Arneis and Brachetto grapes given to the sheltered slopes.

Well known as a forward-thinking producer (though no mad modernist), it is not a surprise to see the 2012 Roero Arneis under a Stelvin Lux closure. The packaging looks good and so does the first impression given by this wine. Attractive to smell, this has pear, apple, white blossom and some lime on the nose and these carry through to the mid palate, along with some astringent and slightly bitter characters. This feels a bit too forced, pushing for flavour but copping extracted and boozy character. It holds together, just, on a first day of opening, but the astringency and alcohol dominates and the wine unspools by a second evening open.

Not a convincing argument for Arneis, to my taste, but fair value at $20.

Screwcap, purchase, $20, 13%, brought in by Beaune & Beyond, website here.

Luciano Sandrone Dolcetto d'Alba 2011 (Piedmont)

Serious Dolcetto here. A silky line, fuzzed up by well-extracted fruit tannin. Lots of length. As with the Sandrone Nebbiolo d'Alba, there is a beautiful lift of mouth-perfume here, on top of the floral and gently musky smells in the glass. Again akin to the Nebbiolo, there is a mixture of cherry and cherry stone characters in the wine, with no oak influence.

One of the best examples of Dolcetto I have tried - as much a Sandrone wine as the 'little, sweet one' of the variety. More interest, length, texture and layered flavour than a lot of basic Nebbiolo. Give it a decant. Try with a pork sausage pasta dish or pizza with cured meats. Fine value too.

$35, purchase, cork, 13%, imported by Bibendum, website here.

Luciano Sandrone 'Valmaggiore' Nebbiolo d'Alba 2007 (Piedmont)

While I am still not convinced that Nebbiolo is for me, wines like this make a persuasive case for their place on the dinner table.

The 'Valmaggiore' in the name of this bottling is a reference to a single vineyard. There is not a long history of single vineyard expression in Piedmont, but many producers have headed down this path in recent years for at least some of their nebbiolo-based wines.

This 2007 has a beautiful, assured feel about it. Lithe and long, tannins ripple around the cherried fruit. Mouth-perfume. A lick of a cherry-pip, nutty character here that is really appealing. The absence of new oak shows with a clear expression of nebbiolo tannin that does not dominate the fruit. A well-balanced example of the quality to be had outside Barolo and Barbaresco bottlings.

Very easy to drink at the moment, though a few more years in bottle would not hurt either. Worth a purchase.

Cork, purchase, $90, 13.5% alcohol, imported by Bibendum, website here.

Castellari Bergaglio Gavi 'Fornaci' Cortese 2009 (Piedmont)

Sherried at the front, honey and lemon juice through the middle. Aromatics are quite subtle, lemon, pear and dry hay. Length is good, mostly about a salty, mineral character and the last bits of the mid palate. Like an aged cold and flu remedy, in a way. The kind of wine you like, but are not quite sure why.

Perhaps it is because I like the Cortese grape, something the Lost Valley winery in Victoria provided my introduction to.

This 2009 Gavi (a part of Piedmont close to Liguria) comes from the Castellari Bergaglio winery and the 'Fornaci' is a reference to a brick furnace that used to be found on their site. Tasted over three days, with and without food, and looked best on the second day.

Brought in by Trembath & Taylor.

Cork, purchase, $28-35 for the current vintage which is the 2012 pictured, 13% alcohol, website here.

Speri Ripasso 2010 (Verona)

A friend is sitting his Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET) exam tomorrow in Sydney. Some last minute practice of WSET style 'structured tasting' across four lots of wine might have helped or hindered.  The tasting was 'double-blind' so no idea of what wines were in the overall set, let alone a particular bracket.

It was an interesting tasting, even if disconcerting. A bracket of four Spanish and Portuguese reds looked more Italian than Iberian. Then a bracket that turned out to be all Italian had the group thinking Spain and France. A delicate-fruit, jagged tannin Nebbiolo d'Alba looked like a Village red Burgundy or further down that tree, the tannins worked too hard for the fruit. A Brunello (2005 Banfi) looked Medoc-like in leafy flavour, oak and tannin (looked more sangiovese the more air it got). The fourth wine in the bracket, a Dolcetto d'Alba made with carbonic maceration technique, reminded us of carbonic maceration wines made from Monastrell in Spain or a good Beaujolais, more than Piedmont.

This Valpolicella Ripasso wine from Speri was a standout in the sneaky-Italians bracket. I thought of Spain first and foremost, due to the weight of dry extract the wine carries, which reminded me of Ribera or Priorat, and skin tannin like that of top-notch tempranillo. That inky, tarry extract flavour combines with deep, even fruit in the Speri wine, before the bittersweet and fine tannins finish it all off. Such good fruit in this, yet with a great sense of shape about it. Sure-footed wine.

Open three days now and still fine drinking. It gets a 15 day referment of the Valpolicella on the Amarone marc, before 12 months in oak. There is no sense of oak intrusion in this at all.

You should be able to find this at about $40, a bit less if keen. Sealed with a cork and 13.5% alcohol. A reminder of how good ripasso styles can be - combining some of the fresh fruit of Valpolicella with the depth & tannic interest of Amarone. Has gone well with lasagne but also by itself, sipped, with a book or film in front of the fire.

Bersano 'Nirvasco' Barolo 2007 (Piedmont)

Barolo at $40? A price where you might feel lucky to find a good Langhe nebbiolo, but foreign country for Barolo or Barbaresco. It is a combination of canny buying and the exchange rate that makes this possible, and the wine is worth seeking out.

Ripe nebbiolo fruits tuck in behind typical, but not overwhelming, tannins. There is a drying aspect to the finish, but pleasantly so, especially with richer foods. A roast lamb rack, potatoes with rosemary roasted in lard, garlic zucchini - that worked well with the deft combination of juicy and chewy characteristics of the wine. Nebbiolo and lamb fat. Tasty.

Cork, 14.5% alcohol, $40, purchase.

Pio Cesare Grignolino del Monferrato Casalese 2009

Grignolino is a new grape for me. Reading up, I find it is one of the tribe of 'lesser' red grapes of Piedmont. Now quite rare in Piemonte, plantings cluster between Asti and Monferrato. The name refers to the many seeds found in grignolino grapes. Grignolino is sometimes described as making rose-like wines, of light fruit, freshness and often a somewhat orange colour. This 2009 grignolino from Pio Cesare is not like that at all.

The fruit is mainly fresh strawberry and sour cherry to smell and taste, and sparkles in the glass rather than blocking all light. In fruit character it somewhat resembles village beaujolais, but the tannins and acid say Italy to me. The integration of fine, grippy tannin and acid is excellent, stretching out together from start to finish, without dipping or coming apart. Genuine refreshment here. Not for drinkers looking for fruit-forward styles of lighter red wine, but well-suited to cut through a plate of lasagna or sliced smallgoods.

$33.25 at Dan Murphy's in a mixed six-pack, sealed with natural cork (about to fail, this one), 13% alcohol.