Five Wines Under $20 to Drink Right Now

No secret that we’re fans of col fondo prosecco at PUNCH. This method, in which the wine gets a second fermentation in bottle the same way that Champagne does, is the one thing to elevate prosecco from the oceans of bad in which it so often swims. Col fondo is, however, a more spendy way to make a wine synonymous with bottomless mimosas. So while the Miotto isn’t the most profound example ever, it hits the basics super well: bright, lemony and refined, with that subtle prosecco sweetness, and the cloudy, creamy aspect that defines col fondo.

I drink a lot of this wine when I find it, because Frascati, the classic wine of the Roman trattoria, deserves a better fate than the dustbin of Italian wine history it’s been swept into; and because good Frascati ticks all the white-wine boxes: It’s fresh without being shrill, full-textured without being boring. The Marchese often has a lemon-oil side to it that feels right for grilled fish, and it delivers with remarkable consistency.

The sparkling (typically) red called lambrusco remains one of Italy’s great underrated pleasures. But the few made “naturally”—i.e., without added sulfur dioxide—can be, shall we say, challenging. Luciano Saetti is generally the most successful with this approach. This latest vintage is chewy, almost bark-like—Saetti is always this way—with ripe plum fruit and a sense of cool clay minerality (like, wet clay). Its textured label, wine’s equivalent of a velvet Elvis painting, is still very much present.

Chianti, can you ever be redeemed?  There are a lot of reasons why Chianti is primordially uncool today, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be enjoyed. And while the Colli Senesi, in the hills around Siena, is the most Lebowski-esque (read: ambition-free) of Chianti’s subzones, it too has its pleasures. Like this property, owned by the important house Felsina. Its straightforward bottling is chewy, tobacco-edged, with bright cherry fruit and that essential dustiness—exactly the sort of clean, no-makeup Chianti that could mount a revival.

At a moment when there’s plenty of cash-money to be made in Piedmont, the Barbaresco house of De Forville takes the noble step of being serious about its lesser wines—and not charging a lot for them. Their basic nebbiolo d’Alba remains a screaming value, but their barbera, in particular, avoids the tendency to fancify this grape. It’s not a small wine (14 percent alcohol) but it’s shimmering with energy—all ripe black fruit, a toasted poppy-seed spice and that unmistakable barbera acidity.