The People’s Choice!
When a wine is chosen by a James Beard-awarded restaurant in a top international city such as Los Angeles or San Francisco, it's got to be good.
And when all the wines from a producer are chosen by many top restaurants, vintage after vintage, you know that they are truly special—they've earned their placements because people love them.
Such is the case with Matteo Correggia. Since being introduced in California by Marc DeGrazia decades ago, this small family estate has been a fan-favorite of restaurants across the state.
It's easy to get drawn in by the story of Matteo himself, who is credited with producing Roero's first vineyard-designated wine.
Matteo's Roero Nebbiolo was so good, he became the only non-Barolo member of Altare’s famed Barolo Boys back in the 1980s.
What Matteo recognized and proved, was Roero's sandy soils produce world-class wines, which are characteristically more "approachable" and less tannic than Barolo.
People love the Correggia story, especially when they get to the part about Ornella, Matteo's widow, who courageously led the winery after Matteo's tragic tractor accident. Even as her kids were barely out of diapers, Ornella continued to blaze a pioneering path, converting to organic and increasing the array of wines.
She made sure each wine over-delivered; the Arneis is fresh and crisp due to harvesting in multiple passes; the Barbera is planted on south-facing vineyards that most estates would reserve only for higher priced Nebbiolo; and the Roero is extraordinarily silky and complex thanks to the long legacy of perfecting it in their single vineyards.
The winery is gaining more visibility with market visits and Instagram posts from the dashing young Giovanni, Matteo and Ornella's son, a prodigious talent who has been making the wines for almost a decade.
The Correggia story certainly pulls at the heartstrings, and yet that's not why the wines continue to appear, year after year in the prime BTG spots in great restaurants.
It's because people love these wines -- they are delicious, affordable and overdeliver. They are wines that will keep your guests coming back for more, guaranteed.
