May I Introduce Two Handsome Italians: Gavi and Chianti

 May I Introduce Two Handsome Italians:

 Gavi and Chianti

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Cinzia Bergaglio La Fornace Gavi (DOCG) 2020, 13%, 

€19.95 64 Wine Dublin, Bradley’s of Cork, Greenman Dublin, Le Caveau Kilkenny

This is a 100% Cortese  from the Tassarolo vineyard in Gavi. Colour is a light straw yellow with green tints. Delicate, fresh and fragrant neatly sums up the nose, typical of the grape, floral, and with notes of lemon and apple. It is well balanced between savoury and acidity on the palate. Peach and apricot figure, along with almond notes, in the pleasant finish with a dry finalé.

Le Caveau tell us that, for years, the Bergaglio family has been producing grapes which they sold in bulk, until 2002, when Cinzia decided to bottle her production. “Cinzia's vision is to farm following organic principles, the farm uses products with a low environmental impact, the vineyards are fertilised with green manure: among the rows, Cinzia grows a mix of herbs and various vegetables.”

The Cortese grape that yields this light-bodied white wine is grown in Piedmont and virtually nowhere else. It is known also as Cortese de Gavi or just plain Gavi. I’ve had some lack-lustre Gavi over the vintages but happy to put this on my Highly Recommended list. Piedmont is best known for its reds including Nebbiolo, Barbera and Dolcetto.

Geeks Bits

Vineyard: Tassarolo

ABV: 13%

Serving Temperature: 10-12 degrees

Pairing: appetisers, cocktails, seafood (especially with basil and lemon), soups, fresh cheese.

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Innocenti Chianti Colli Senesi (DOCG) 2016, 13.5%

€18.95 64 Wine Dublin, Bradley’s of Cork, Greenman Dublin, Le Caveau Kilkenny

Ruby is the colour of this blend of Sangiovese (mostly) and Canaiolo Toscano, a DOCG wine from Chianti deli Colli Senesi. Plum leads the way in the aromatics. On the palate, there’s quite a wash of spice with cherry now heading the fruit flavours. It is slightly tannic with excellent acidity all the way to a fresh finish. Highly Recommended.

It is a versatile food wine and should go well with roast chicken. Le Caveau have a list from Tuscany: Try this with ribollita, a bread-thickened bean and black cabbage soup or pot roast pigeon cooked with sage and spiced luganega sausage with stir-fried fennel or braised celery.

The estate lies between Montepulciano and Montefollonico. The cellar buildings, dating back to end of the 13th century, are in the small, well-preserved medieval town of Montefollonico.

It is a family affair. The owner Vittorio Innocenti gave up teaching philosophy many years ago to dedicate all his time to the estate and the cellars and is helped by his wife Maria Rosa, theatre historian, his son Tommaso, who is currently finishing a course of study enabling him to take over the management of the estate, and his brother Mario, responsible for the care of the vineyards.

Chianti Colli Senesi is an area that overlaps some of Tuscany's most famous wine names – Montalcino, Montepulciano and San Gimignano – with the Chianti Colli Senesi title used to cover Sangiovese-based wines from the less prestigious vineyards of the area. (Ref: Wine-Searcher)

Fontanafredda, important player in Italian wine. Three examples.

Fontanafredda: important player in Italian wine. Three examples.

The Modern History of Italian Wine (2016), to which we'll be referring often over the next few months, picks Fontanafredda, renowned for decades for its Barolo, as a key player in Italy's wine industry. The important company now produces some 7.5m bottles a year and you can find quite a few of its products, including the Barolos, in Karwig Wines. Below are just three examples. 

Fontanafredda Raimonda, Barbera D’Alba (DOC) 2009, 14%, €21.15 Karwig Wines

In 1858, an area close to the village of Serralunga D’Alba was registered to the King Vittorio Emanuele II. Here he indulged his passion with the commoner daughter of a drum major and it was eventually their son Emanuele Guerrieri, Count of Mirafiore, who devoted his life to making wine here, “with a very modern approach”.

Success with Barolo followed later but, after war and economic strife, the banks took over in 1931 and appointed a winemaker to take charge. In recent years, the property passed to Oscar Farinetti, “another visionary” according to the recently published Modern History of Italian wine, “who revitalized its sale and the commercial image of the brand”. 

Dressed with the colours of the estate, the Stripes series “is the central line of production by Fontanafredda”. And the Barbera for this striped bottle is grown around Serralunga.

Part of the wine is aged in large French and Slavonian oak casks, the rest stored in small barrels of medium toasted French and American oak for about a year. The two parts are blended prior to bottling.

Colour is a deep ruby. There are intense aromas of cherry and plum, notes of vanilla. Quite a striking velvety mouthfeel on this one, round with ripe and tangy fruit, hints of spice, and an excellent acidity. A very pleasant drop indeed and Very Highly Recommended.

Karwig’s also do another excellent example of the grape: Renato Barbera D’Alba.

Fontanafredda Gavi (DOCG) 2015, 12.5%, €23.10 Karwig Wines

This is another of the vineyard’s Stripes Series and the Cortese vines from which it is produced are grown near the village of Gavi in south east Piedmont. Serve between 10 to 12 degrees and you’ll find it is ideal for starters and light meals.

It is a light straw colour with a definite green tint and micro-bubbles cling to the sides of the glass. There are fairly intense aromas, a melange of white fruit and blossom. Lively fruit flavours predominate as it rolls smoothly across the palate. It is an easy-drinking well-balanced wine with a long dry finish. Highly Recommended.

Fontanafredda “Le Fronde” Moscato D’Asti (DOCG) 2012, 5.0%, €9.95 Karwig Wines

This is a gorgeous moderately sweet wine, another string to the impressive Fontanafredda bow. Try it with all desserts, they encourage. I had a few of those delightful cheesecakes from Charly and tried the two together. Excellent, though I'm told it may be even better with drier cakes (e.g. panetone). And, by the way, it is also lovely on its own.

May not have much alcohol on board - yes, that five per cent is correct - but it has quite a lot going for it otherwise. It is slightly fizzy, lots of bubbles in evidence, mainly clinging to the sides of the glass, a frizzante rather than a spumante. Indeed, the low alcohol count means it can be convenient to use within a multi-course meal, either as aperitif or with dessert. I prefer to use a normal white wine glass rather than a flute.

It is aromatic (this one sage and honey) and floral, full and fruity also. Well worth trying, ideal in the garden in summer, with three or four friends. Recommended.

Recently reviewed:

Fontanafredda Pradalupo, Roero Arneis 2010 (Piedmont, Italy)


See also from our current Italian series:
Two Amazing Whites from Italy
Wines of Italy's Marche
In the Heart of Chianti
From the Islands

Pighin's "Grave wines are bargains". Good too!

Sweet Favourite of the Romans. Still Going Strong.
Barolo and Amarone. Two Italians Worth Knowing
Montepulciano and Montepulciano confused?
Pinot Grigio, one of the most popular grapes.

Wines from the Alps

Velenosi from the Marche

Gavi: a wine off freshness and simplicity

BRICCO DEI GUAZZI GAVI DOCG 2010, 12.5%, €11.99 Red Nose Wines. 

This is bright in the glass with a light honey colour. Micro bubbles cling to the glass. The nose is delicately aromatic. On the palate, it is fresh and fruity (more apple than melon for me) with a whisk of acidity.

This dry white is made in Piemonte, in the north west of Italy, and the grape, apparently native to the area, is 100% cortese.

Quality of Gavi can vary a bit but most are cool, clean and crisp. That excellent book Vino Italia says: "Gavi is usually a wine of freshness and simplicity, which may not be fashionable but is often pleasurable.”

And that pretty much sums up this lively Red Nose offering, another alternative to add to your white wine rota. Enjoy with pasta, salads, fish and shellfish.