Marchesi di Barolo is a Piedmont name, and Piedmont here means Cortese, a grape that gives its best on the hills around the town of Gavi in the south-east of the region. Gavi di Gavi DOCG is the tighter of the two appellations, drawn from the commune itself, and it is one of the few Italian whites built on a single grape with a rulebook that never bends.
- Cortese, the only grape allowed in Gavi.
- Gavi di Gavi DOCG, Piedmont, north-west Italy.
- 2023, a bright and generous vintage in Piedmont.
- Light in body, high in acidity, dry.
- 12.5% alcohol, 750ml.
How it is made
Cortese is a thin-skinned, late-ripening grape with naturally high acid, and Gavi is made to keep it that way. The wine is fermented cool and stopped short of any malolactic softening, so the acidity stays sharp rather than creamy. That is the whole point of the style: the grape is not asked to be rich, it is asked to stay taut.
How it tastes
Pale straw with greenish highlights. Green apple and white peach up front, then citrus, a clear almond note on the back, and a mineral, slightly saline finish. The acidity is the spine of it, and it holds the fruit in place rather than letting it go soft.
Where it comes from
Gavi sits in the Colli Tortonesi, the hills of the far south-east of Piedmont, closer to Liguria and the sea than to the Langhe. The vineyards face south and south-east on marl and limestone, and the maritime air that comes up from the coast keeps the nights cooler than the inland hills.
Good to know
Gavi was the first white wine in Italy to be granted its own DOC, in 1974, and it took DOCG status in 1998. The name appears twice on the label for a reason: Gavi di Gavi means the fruit came from the town of Gavi itself, not from the wider zone around it.
