2024 Bel Colle Verduno Pelaverga DOC | Rare Piedmont Red

🔥 One of Italy's Great Little-Known Grapes | Ridiculously Easy to Drink

Strawberry. Cherry. Violets. White pepper. Silky tannins. Fresh acidity.

If you've never had Pelaverga before, start here. This is dangerously drinkable.

Rare Indigenous Piedmont Red | 100% Pelaverga Piccolo | RRP $45

Forget big, heavy Italian reds for a moment. This is light on its feet, fragrant, spicy, juicy and incredibly easy to drink. Put a slight chill on it and watch the bottle disappear.

The 2024 Bel Colle Verduno Pelaverga DOC is exactly the sort of wine I love finding.

It's different.

It's delicious.

And it's made from a grape variety most people have probably never even heard of.

Pelaverga Piccolo.

And once you've tasted a good one, you'll wonder why we don't see more of it.

What the Hell Is Pelaverga?

This is where things get interesting.

Pelaverga Piccolo is a rare indigenous grape variety from Verduno, a tiny village sitting among the great vineyards of the Langhe in Piedmont.

Yes.

We're in Barolo country.

Verduno itself is famous for vineyards such as Monvigliero, but tucked away among all that Nebbiolo is this fascinating little grape variety that produces something completely different.

Bel Colle says Pelaverga was introduced to the area in the 17th century and today survives within one of Italy's smallest denominations.

The official denomination remains genuinely tiny: only about 245,000 bottles of Verduno Pelaverga DOC were certified from the 2023 vintage.

This is proper wine-geek territory.

Except the wine itself isn't remotely difficult.

That's the beauty of it.

This Is So Easy to Drink

This is the thing that struck me about the Bel Colle.

It's just so bloody drinkable.

There's no massive tannin.

No huge alcohol.

No heavy oak.

No waiting ten years for it to become approachable.

Instead you get this gorgeous rush of:

Strawberry

Cherry

Violet

White Pepper

Herbs & Spice

with lovely fresh acidity and soft, velvety tannins.

Bel Colle describes the variety as combining small red berries with its unmistakable spicy character, particularly the distinctive white-pepper note for which Verduno Pelaverga is famous.

It's almost impossible not to reach for another glass.

If You Like Pinot Noir, Gamay or Frappato…

You need to try Pelaverga.

I'm not saying it tastes exactly like any of them.

It doesn't.

But if your drinking tends towards fragrant, lighter-bodied reds rather than huge blockbuster wines, there's a very good chance you'll love this.

Think of the sheer drinkability of Beaujolais.

The fragrance and delicacy of Pinot Noir.

The juicy red-fruited character you can find in Frappato.

Then throw in Pelaverga's wonderfully distinctive:

White Pepper

and you've got something completely its own.

It's one of those wines that reminds you how much fun Italian wine can be.

Tasting Notes

Appearance: Brilliant, light ruby-red with cherry and violet reflections — immediately telling you this isn't going to be some enormous Piedmontese bruiser.

Aroma: Beautifully fragrant. Fresh strawberry, cherry and crunchy red berries meet violets, herbs and that wonderfully distinctive peppery spice.

Palate: Dry, juicy and wonderfully fresh. Red berries and cherry flow across the palate with bright acidity and an almost effortless lightness.

Texture: Soft and velvety, with gentle tannins providing just enough shape without ever interrupting the flow of fruit.

Finish: Fresh, spicy and mouthwatering. Red fruit fades into pepper, florals and savoury spice, immediately encouraging another sip.

Not complicated to drink.

Very difficult to stop drinking.

2024 – A Great Vintage for This Style

The 2024 growing season in Verduno was relatively warm but also unusually wet, with limited temperature extremes.

The resulting Pelavergas generally showed moderate alcohol, good acidity and clear aromatic definition, with fine spice and freshness being hallmarks of the vintage.

Bel Colle's 2024 was singled out in a broad tasting of the vintage as a particularly balanced and classic interpretation.

That's exactly what you want here.

Freshness is everything.

100% Pelaverga Piccolo

The 2024 is:

100% Pelaverga Piccolo di Verduno

grown around Verduno and neighbouring parts of Roddi and La Morra.

The vineyards sit around 200–300 metres above sea level on calcareous soils.

There's no need to bury a grape this aromatic beneath winemaking.

The emphasis is on retaining:

Fruit

Perfume

Freshness

Spice

Varietal character

which is precisely what makes the finished wine so much fun.

Bel Colle Knows Pelaverga

This isn't a producer jumping onto an obscure-grape trend.

Bel Colle is deeply connected to Pelaverga.

The estate was founded around 45 years ago in Verduno and today farms approximately 10 hectares across Verduno, the Langhe and Asti.

More importantly, Bel Colle describes itself as:

Italy's largest producer of Verduno Pelaverga.

The winery was also one of the six founding estates behind the Verduno producers' association.

So when you want to understand this wonderfully obscure little grape:

Bel Colle is a pretty good place to start.

And It's Grown in Serious Country

One of the things I find fascinating about Pelaverga is where it comes from.

We're not talking about some forgotten vineyard region in the middle of nowhere.

We're in Verduno.

Right in the Langhe.

Right alongside some of the world's most celebrated Nebbiolo vineyards.

Bel Colle's vineyards around its winery straddle the Verduno/La Morra area, including Borgo Castagni and Neirane, where clay-limestone soils with gypsum veins help produce wines of aromatic intensity, freshness and savoury character.

This is serious terroir.

It's just expressed through a completely different grape.

Put It in the Fridge

Yes.

I mean it.

Give this a slight chill.

Not ice cold.

But somewhere around:

14–16°C

is ideal and is also the producer-recommended serving range.

Twenty or thirty minutes in the fridge before serving will make those red fruits and peppery aromatics absolutely sing.

And suddenly you have one of the most versatile reds imaginable.

Food Pairings

This is a brilliant food wine because it doesn't overwhelm anything.

Try it with:

• Antipasti and salumi
• Prosciutto
• Mortadella
• Mushroom pasta
• Pizza
• Pork
• Roast chicken
• Grilled tuna
• White fish
• Charcuterie
• Hard cheeses

Pelaverga's combination of freshness, gentle tannin and spice even allows it to work with fish, which isn't something you can say about every Piedmontese red.

But there's another pairing I'd recommend:

A second bottle.

Because one disappears very quickly.

Why We Love It

This is exactly the kind of Italian wine I want people to discover.

You're getting:

Verduno, Piedmont

100% Pelaverga Piccolo

One of Italy's rare indigenous grape varieties

Strawberry & crunchy red berries

Fresh cherry

Violets

Signature white-pepper spice

Soft, velvety tannins

Beautiful freshness

Brilliant served slightly chilled

Made by Italy's largest producer of Verduno Pelaverga

And your RRP?

$45.

But forget scores.

Forget prestige.

Forget whether anyone at the table has ever heard of Pelaverga.

Just drink it.

Because ultimately the reason I'd buy the 2024 Bel Colle Verduno Pelaverga is incredibly simple:

It's bloody delicious.

It's fragrant without being delicate.

Light without being thin.

Savoury without being hard.

And interesting without demanding that you sit there analysing every mouthful.

This is a wine for drinking, not worshipping.

Strawberry. Cherry. Violets. White pepper. Silky tannins. Fresh acidity.

Rare grape. Tiny appellation. Barolo country. $45.

👉 If you're bored of drinking the same varieties over and over again, buy this. Give it a slight chill, pour it into a big glass and prepare to discover one of Piedmont's most ridiculously drinkable little secrets.