James Bercovici - The Big Red Wine Company

 Two vintages of Fabrizio Battaglino ' s Nebbiolo d'Alba 'Para'di' (OK, so that doesn't translate as 'Paradise' but allow me some licence), both very good years - 2019 and (on paper, even better) 2020. Young but this is his first port of call for Nebbiolo so it's meant to be drunk young (albeit not necessarily this young). Are they drinking well now and what, if anything, distinguishes them from each other? In time honoured fashion, 2020 first, just because it's younger. It's got quite big fruit for a Nebbiolo grown in the Roero hills but, then, you only have to try Giacosa's Valmaggiore from the hill next door to see that's not uncommon or a bad thing. There's power here. It seems to deserve a higher appellation status - think of this as the Piedmontese equivalent of a Côtes du Rhône; this is far more interesting than all but a handful of wines from that area. 2020 was a superb vintage though and this isn't bucking the trend....

 A quick perusal shows that Fabrizio Battaglino has some well-deserved awards in the 2022 edition including for his 2019 Nebbiolo d'Alba 'Paradi', a wine which is coming into its own well now ( Due Bicchieri ) and the 2020 Roero Arneis 'Bastia', a lovely Arneis with a little more richness than the younger vine 'San Michele' (both also Due Bicchieri,  the latter in the 2019 edition).  Lots of entries too for I Campi, our Veneto superstar estate. This year it has yet another  Tre Bicchieri  but, for the first time (I think) for the regular Valpolicella Superiore in a vintage I have yet to try. If Covid restrictions are eased in time, it will be on my list of addresses to visit while stocks last! Only (a maximum of) one Tre Bicchieri is awarded per estate each year so the red Due Bicchieri  for the Soave Classico "Vulcano' should be regarded as every bit as worthy of the top prize.  Elsewhere, in Decanter last month, Matt Walls' focus on "othe...