Terre di Talamo farms on the Tuscan coast, in the Maremma, where Vermentino has grown for centuries and the sea air gets into everything. The grape is the same one Sardinia built its whites on, but here it ripens under a warmer sun and picks up a saline edge that inland plantings rarely show.
- Vermentino, 100%, from the Tuscan coast.
- Toscana IGT, the region's flexible appellation.
- 2022, a warm, generous vintage in Tuscany.
- Dry, medium body, high acidity.
- 14% abv in a 750ml bottle.
How it is made
Toscana IGT is the catch-all appellation for wines that fall outside the stricter DOC and DOCG rules. It sets no fixed blend and no minimum ageing, so a producer can pick a vineyard, pick a grape and bottle it without fitting anyone else's recipe. Vermentino is not native to Tuscany. It arrived from Liguria and Sardinia, and along the Maremma coast it has settled in as the white the region does best.
How it tastes
Vegetal at first: sage and laurel, a touch of myrtle, and a strong iodine and brine note that reads more like the coast than the cellar. Then yellow plum and Golden Delicious. On the palate it is dry and medium-bodied, cut by high acidity, with citrus, green apple, almond and a mineral, saline finish.
Where it comes from
The Maremma is the coastal strip of southern Tuscany, low hills and flat plains running down to the Tyrrhenian Sea. Vermentino vines here sit close enough to the water that the salt carried inland by wind is often described as part of the wine. Low tannin, high acid, and a bitterness on the end that is the grape's own signature.
Good to know
Vermentino has several names depending on where it grows: Pigato in Liguria, Favorita in Piedmont, Rolle in Provence. Same grape, different passports. Tuscany labels it Vermentino, and the coastal plantings are the ones that keep the briny, herbal character.
