Family-run Roero Arneis from Canale, the variety's heartland. White peach, almond and chamomile with a saline lift, it is Piedmont's best-value indigenous white.
Tip: Arneis loses its delicacy with age; pick the youngest vintage and serve it cold with fritto misto or raw fish.
Cortese from the historic Gavi house at Rovereto. Crisp green-apple and citrus with a flinty, mineral finish, the dry white that put Gavi on the map at an everyday price for its black-label sibling's cellar.
Tip: The basic Gavi from this estate over-delivers; reserve the famous black-label Gavi dei Gavi for a splurge.
Organic young-vine Nebbiolo from La Morra fruit, made in a clean, fragrant style. Pale garnet, wild strawberry and rose, light tannin: an early-drinking window into La Morra terroir.
Tip: Made from declassified La Morra Barolo fruit; one of the most elegant cheap Nebbiolos for the price.
Certified-organic Nebbiolo from younger Barolo-zone vines. Rose petal, sour cherry and tar in miniature, with friendly tannin, it is a budget rehearsal for the estate's Barolo Albe.
Tip: Drink it alongside the estate's Barolo Albe to see how the same fruit scales up; the family farms both organically.
Barbera d'Alba from the historic Marchesi di Barolo house, partly aged in oak. Dark cherry, a touch of spice and a rounder, food-friendly body than the steel-only Asti versions.
Tip: From the estate at the heart of dry Barolo's invention; Ruvei is its accessible everyday red with a little oak polish.
Barbera from three Asti parcels, aged about a year between steel, barrique and large oak. Ruby-red, sour-cherry fruit, soft tannin and bright acidity make it the benchmark everyday Piedmont red.
Tip: Serve it lightly chilled with a tomato-sauce pasta; the acidity cuts the sauce better than any Nebbiolo would.
Certified-organic Dolcetto from the highest hamlet of Barolo. Inky purple, plummy and faintly almond-bitter on the finish, it is the textbook fruity, low-acid Piedmont weeknight red.
Tip: Drink it within two or three years of the vintage while the purple fruit is still vivid; Dolcetto is not a keeper.