Gavi is the white wine of the far southeast of Piedmont, a corner of the region that looks more toward Liguria and the sea than toward the Alps. Ricossa makes this one from Cortese, the grape the DOCG is built on and the only one it allows.
Cortese, the sole grape of Gavi DOCG.
Piedmont, northern Italy, in the hills of the southeast.
2021, a vintage with good ripeness and freshness.
A white wine, dry, light in body.
How it is made
Gavi became a DOCG in 1998, the first white wine in Piedmont to reach that level. The rules require Cortese and nothing else, grown in a defined set of hills around the town of Gavi. The grape itself is thin-skinned and high in acid, which is why the wines hold their shape rather than turning soft.
How it tastes
Cortese gives a lean, dry white with a green-apple edge and a bitter almond note that arrives at the end. It is not a rich wine and does not try to be. The acidity is the point, and it stays bright from the first sip to the last.
Where it comes from
The vineyards sit on limestone and clay marl, in a pocket of Piedmont that catches more sun and less fog than the Langhe further north.
The Apennines close the horizon to the south, and the sea is not far beyond them. That is the climate in the glass: warm enough to ripen Cortese, cool enough to keep it taut.
