Anselmi's San Vincenzo comes from the hills around Monteforte d'Alpone, in the Veneto, where Garganega has been the white grape of the area for centuries. Roberto Anselmi built his reputation on it, stripping away the sweet styles and the oak and bottling the grape dry, unoaked and clean. Here it is blended with Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc under the plain Veneto IGT rather than a named appellation, which leaves the blend free to change with the year.
Garganega, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.
Veneto IGT, the broad regional designation.
2023 vintage, 12.5% alcohol.
Dry, unoaked white.
How it is made
Garganega is a late-ripening grape with a thick skin, and in the volcanic soils north of Soave it holds its acidity well into September. Anselmi has long argued that the grape does not need the sweet passito styles or new oak to be taken seriously, and San Vincenzo is the plainest expression of that argument: stainless steel, no barrel, the fruit left to speak.
How it tastes
Blood orange granita and yellow peach, with fresh tarragon over a mineral spine. Creamy in the middle and lightly juicy, the Chardonnay rounding the edges while the Sauvignon keeps the finish tight. It stays lean rather than broad, and the citrus lingers.
Good to know
Garganega is one of Italy's most widely planted white grapes and one of its least exported. In the Veneto it is trained on the pergola, the vines lifted overhead on wooden poles, a system that shades the fruit from the worst of the sun and lets it hang longer than a trellis would allow.
