PINOT GRIGIO FROM THE PAST Gini Soave Classico Contrada Selvarenza Vecchie Vigne 2014 Ciro Picariello Fiano di Avellino 2016 Selvadolce Rucantu 2016 Bibi Graetz Bugia Toscana 2014
THESE SOPHISTICATED WINES PROVE THAT ITALY HAS MORE TO OFFER THAN THE PERENNIALLY POPULAR SUMMER FAVOURITE
THE BIG THREE
Never a flashy producer, Gini has been quietly growing some of northern Italy’s finest white grapes for 400 years. Made principally from garganega, this old-vine bottling (100+ years) has the lusciousness of a honey-poached pear. It billows over the palate, revealing a bituminous nuttiness on the back, though acidity pushes it away from overt heaviness.
La Staffa Verdicchio Castelli di Jesi Superiore 2017
Verdicchio, known for an energetic greenness and vivacity, comes in two distinct regional flavours. Jesi, the more famous, comes from a gently hilly stretch of Adriatic coast, yielding a less extreme, more pliant expression. This youthful version evokes white grapefruit and quartz; it is pristine and radiant. Its structure is upright, its acid bracing but not aggressive. La Monacesca Verdicchio di Matelica 2015
Matelica shows verdicchio’s other side, with extremes of fierce acidity and intense ripeness and density. Just starting to become expressive, this one is electric bright and still somewhat taut and withheld; its central spear of acid is surrounded by ripples of fruit richness that never become fully fleshy, flowing from Meyer lemon to celery root and chalk dust.
This has the dewy allure of a juicy green plum or something that dropped languorously from a tree in a tropical garden, with just a whiff of the ethereal smokiness to come. On the palate it starts a little quiet then amplifies, with a long, medicinal herb finish.
REIMAGINED CLASSICS Poggio al Tesoro Solosole Vermentino 2012
This Bolgheri white obliterates vermentino’s image as the sauvignon blanc of the Med. Wafting bergamot marmalade and smoky candle wick, the silky palate eventually gives way to a refreshing, bitter quinine finish.
Pigato, a Ligurian grape allegedly identical to vermentino, belies its cliffy, seaside origins with its rich yellow apple, custard, and ski-wax nose with a touch of petrol. Vibrant acid elevates a voluminous outer around a tight, grainy interior; the lasting impression on the palate is of lightly salted butter.
Pietracupa Greco di Tufo DOCG 2016
Greco is known for its characteristic mouthfeel, at its best featuring a crescendo of waxy fleshiness that converges neatly into a firm, grippy close. Here, the yellow plum fruit and trademark mouthfeel are complemented by a piercing dagger of acidity, nervous enough to make your eye twitch but betokening years of evolution ahead.
NEW AND COOL
Made by the Norwegian-Italian artist Bibi Graetz, this wine from the island of Giglio (meaning lily) has a name that translates as “to lie,” a testament to its largely ungraspable character. The ansonica grape’s iodine-laced yellow fruit starts oily and broad and tapers into a narrow finish lifted by an Asian blend of lemongrass and ginger.
Centanni Pecorino Offida 2018
Pecorino is an unusually friendly Italian grape. Big and oily with bold white peach and nectarine fruit and subtle white florals, sage, and mint, its acidity keeps all that jollity in check, making it worth holding for a season or two.
Emidio Pepe, Trebbiano d’Abruzzo 2010
Not to be confused with more anonymous trebbiano grapes (trebbiano is a diverse group of varieties), trebbiano abruzzese is the foundation for this biodynamically farmed, primordial-smelling, foottrodden elixir. Gravelly phenolics, a dried-fruit and boiled-ginger flavour, and an oddly succulent texture make this confusing but brilliant.
Benanti Pietramarina Etna Bianco Superiore 2012
A wine so tightly coiled it appears totally mute in youth, at over five years of age this benchmark white from smouldering Etna contains depths of luminous yellow fruit, with a crystalline nerviness that feels like snowflakes melting on the tongue, leaving a crisp freshfennel and lime-blossom finish.