For the first time, Vini Rari arrive at Vinitaly 2025. Here's what they are

Among the busy schedule of events organised by Gambero Rosso at this edition of Vinitaly, the grand tasting of the Tre Bicchieri winners from the latest edition of our Italian Wine Guide 2025 is, as always, a highlight. But this year, the event has been enriched with a new addition: we've chosen to dedicate space to Vini Rari (Rare Wines), to which we've devoted an entirely new section in the Guide. And so, in Verona, for the very first time, we brought these wines—selected for this prestigious appendix—to the tasting floor, alongside more than 200 award-winning wines.

What are Rare Wines?

We think it’s important to refresh the criteria we used to narrow down our selection. First and foremost, a rare wine is a product conceived from an artisanal perspective: so, the first parameter we considered was the number of bottles produced; we set the limit at under 3,000 bottles per label, with a few exceptions made for certain expressions from extreme or unique contexts. But we didn’t get stuck on the numbers. We dug deeper to identify what we believe to be the intrinsic qualities of an exclusive product. The common thread that ties these wines together lies entirely in the idea from which they were born: sometimes it’s about taking a risk, other times it’s the decision to create a sharp break from the rest of the winery’s range, and in other cases, the desire to challenge oneself and push one’s own limits. This can be done through innovation, or through the revival of past practices, of course reinterpreted with a modern twist. Furthermore, there is an effort to recover parcels of ancient vineyards, both in prestigious zones and in lesser-known denominations, or to engage in a dialogue with time through wines allowed extended ageing in the cellar.

These are niche wines—labels that, one way or another, always surprise. Because they are capable of opening vast sensory landscapes, of playing along a fine line stretched between what we think we know about a wine, a territory, a producer or a denomination, and the unpredictability of what’s in the glass. We've gathered them into a wine list of 50 names, including sparkling wines, whites, reds, and meditation wines, selecting the best of our tastings from Valle d’Aosta to Sicily.

Rare Wines at Vinitaly 2025

We already sensed it at our Rome event last October, and we had confirmation of it again in the Sala Argento that hosted the tasting at Vinitaly: the Vini Rari project sparks curiosity among enthusiasts and professionals alike. The section of the event dedicated to these wines was swarmed right from the opening, and we were pleased to see established professionals, renowned oenologists, and producers at the tasting tables—tasting, widening their eyes in amazement, and interacting with the creators of these little oenological gems. Not all Rare Wines reviewed in the Guide were present at our tasting, but those that were certainly did not make us miss the others: all of Italy was represented, from North to South, with small producers alongside larger, more structured wineries, from coastal territories to mountain peaks. Anyone looking for surprise and enjoyment in their tastings must absolutely check out our Vini Rari.