Italian white wine renaissance follows reds to excellence.
Italian wines have come a long way over the last twenty years, progressing from the rough-and-ready Chianti poured at red-sauce Italian restaurants to classy, polished vino produced by the most demanding grape-growing and wine-making standards. They command the sort of three figure price tags that were the stuff of fantasy a generation ago.
But this charge into the modern wine world has been led by the reds.
For too long “Italian white” meant lemon-water Pinot Grigio and tongue-curlingly dry wine from Liguria – lovely coastline, great seafood but boring, boring wine.
Now, after a few years of watching the price of red wine spiral ever upwards, and noticing the new Mercedes sported by their red counterparts, it began to dawn on Italy’s white wine makers that there might just be something to this idea that the world doesn’t want to drink rubbish wine anymore.
A move from quantity to quality might work for them too.
Call the wine consultant! Or at least have a drink with Cousin Marco, maker of popular red who has just built himself a big new house.
And it's worked – this idea of ditching the peasant plonk. All the way from the steep Alpine valleys of Alto Adige to the volcanic slopes of Sicily’s Mount Vesuvius utterly delightful white wines are showing up on wine lists and in American wine shops.
As Eric Guido, the Italian wine buyer for the New York wine shop Morrell's points out "The regions of Trentino-Alto Adige and Friuli-Venezia Giulia have changed the way we think about Italian white wine. Producers now follow a less-is-more mentality. Italian whites of the north are once again known for their soaring aromatics, impeccable precision, and acid-driven textures."
"They are still remarkably good value too. The best are fruity yet dry, many shot threw with minerality, refreshing in ways California whites rarely achieve, and inexpensive the way good California whites, or even drinkable Burgundies, rarely are."
The world hasn’t yet caught on to Italian whites, so grab them before it does. At the moment there are many delightful winners, at any price point. Well, almost any price point. Much of the more expensive stuff is just trying too hard, attempting to punch above its weight. Too often they turn out to be a soupy mess.
But when they succeed, they are magnificent, like the Vintage Tunina, Jermann 2012 below, one of the greatest whites I've ever drunk.
So fear not, peruse this list and you will find a cellar full of pleasures, from all over Italy, priced to suite every budget.
+++++++
Anas-Cetta, Nescetta di Novello, Elvio Cogno 2013 $28
100% Naccetta
Langhe, Piedmont
Subtly powerful with hints of woody aromatics. Nice fruit, crisp finish and good presence. I drank it with a Poulet de Grand-Mere - wrong country, I know, but it was delicious.
Anselmi, Capitel Foscarino 2013 $25
90% Garganega, 10% Chardonnay
Vento
Seductive and delectable thanks to an abundance of ripe tropical fruits balanced by a tart, crisp-apple bite on the finish, and all washed over by a flinty minerality. A fine emblem of Italian white wine's impressive ambitions.
Chardonnay 2011, Castello Monsanto $25
Toscana
A strange, unfamiliar creature. It lacks Burgundian elegance, yet flounces no show-offy, Californian tartiness. I'd be hard picked to identify it in a blind tasting, yet there's a granite-like seriousness to this wine -- it's built like a rock, and will stand up well to dishes like roast chicken or pork, and be delicious with Prosciutto di Palma, all feats not may whites can pull off.
Elena Walch Pinot Bianco, Kastelaz 2013 $22
Alto Adige
A pure, mountainside delight. Succulent summer peaches on the front palate, a citrus acidity on the finish, all shot through with ribbons of granite Alpine minerality.
Falanghina, Beneventano, DonnaChiara 2013 $16
Campania
A grape of great antiquity, Falanghina is a good example of the importance southern Italy’s wine renaissance attaches to traditional varietals. The DonnaChiara version is crisp and clean while exhibiting just the right amount of the grape’s hallmark rustic, aromatic personality.
Gavi, Le Marne, Michele Chiarlo 2013 $20
100% Cortese
Piedmont
Crisp and fresh but extended sur lees aging gives it a rounder, richer feel in the mouth than one would expect from the first, dry sip. Perfect for fish and grilled chicken.
Luna Mater, Frascati Superiore, Fontana Candida2011 $23
50% Malvasia di Candia, 30% Malvasia del Lazio, 10% Greco, 10% Bombino.
Lazio
An abundance of seductive mango & papaya flavors. Big and full while still retaining an attractive nimble quality.
Planeta, Cometa 2013 $32
100% Fiano
Sicily
Quite charming, a clean, pretty wine with lava flows of volcanic minerality.
Pinot Grigio Bollini 2013 $16
Trentino
A beguiling contradiction: at once clean citrus freshness that acts as a counterpoint to a fulsome generosity. This is a warm wine, bigger and fuller than first meets the eye, or rather palate. There’s real lush fruit and deep mountain minerality hiding beneath that deceptive exterior. And its charms will be far more obvious if you can wait 6 to 12 months.
Pinot Grigio, Grave del Friuili, Fernando Pighin 2013 $17
100% Pinot Grigio
Friuili
Bright and crystal dry, untouched by oak but with a woody quality that adds depth to what would otherwise be a one dimensional wine.
Pinot Grigio Stemmari 2013 $10
Sicily
Clean and crisp, a meticulously balanced wine considering its modest cost and it comes from the intense Mediterranean heat of Sicily.
Russiz Superiore, Collio, Col Disore 2008 $37
Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Yes, that vintage is correct, and shows how well the great whites of Collio can age. A gentle, flavor-packed, fruit-driven delight from Italy's hilly border with Slovenia.
Tenuta Rapitala Chardonnay 2011 $37
Sicily
Creamy, succulent and aromatic -- imagine a combination of California Chardonnay and Savennières. A big wine for big food, even red meat.
Vermentino, Guado Al Tasso, Antinori 2013 $25
Bolgheri
Lively and fresh, full of citrus fruit flavors and perfect for all seafood, especially chevice and oysters
Villa Bucci, Riserva 2009 $66
Marche
100% Verdicchio
A mesmerizing wine, quite astounding. Seductive, voluptuous tropical fruits combine with a deep and vibrant earthiness leading to a finely polished, citrus-laden finish. Oh, and don't miss the flinty minerality running right through the whole miraculous construction. A brilliant wine, and one to accompany the best pork, perhaps cinghiale, if you can find it west of Finistaire
Vintage Tunina, Jermann 2012 $70
Venezia-Giulia
A field blend of Chardonnay, Ribolla Gailla, Malvasis & Picolet.
A sumptuous, truly luxurious wine. A combination of concentrated, honeyed intensity along with tangerine and Granny Smith freshness. The closest thing I can imagine would be a top flight Sauterne if it were dry, such is the power and structure.
Many try for such lofty heights, most stumble along the way – it’s not easy to make wine this good – and you wind up with cloying, indifferent glop. Not Silvio Jermann – this is the real thing.
