The beautiful landscape of Gavi.
The Santuario di Nostra Signora della Guardia dominates the landscape around Gavi.
I have long had a soft spot for the wines of the Gavi DOCg and consider the best of them to be among the very finest white wines of Italy. My recent trip to the Province of Alessandria in Piemonte was a delight, I loved seeing it all, but one of the highlights was visiting the lovely old town of Gavi and tasting a wide array of the wines produced there.
The view from the Santuario di Nostra Signora della Guardia.
Gavi town
Gavi is made from the Cortese grape which really only gets a starring role in south east Piemonte. It is also grown in the nearby Colli Tortonesi and Monferrato regions as well as in the provinces of Cuneo, Asti and the wider areas of Alessandria to make the slightly more humble wines labelled as Cortese del Piemonte DOC. Outside Piemonte Cortese can be found in Lombardy’s Oltrepò Pavese region and it is also cultivated around Lake Garda where it is used to produce Garda Cortese as well as being used in the blend of Bianco di Custoza.
I have also had one Cortese from Australia that was very enjoyable, but I am surprised, given what nice wines can be made from Cortese, how little the grape is grown and known around the world.
However it is in the rolling hills around the town of Gavi and the 10 outlying communes that Cortese produces its most famous wine – Gavi or Cortese di Gavi which was created as a DOC in 1974 and promoted to DOCg in 1998. Gavi is very much regarded as Piemonte’s pre-eminent white wine and as such the production zone is very small, it produces less than 2% of all Piemonte’s wine and covers just 11 communes or villages , of which Gavi itself is the most important and famous.
As for the place name it seems that in ancient times the local people were cave dwellers and Ga Va means land of holes in the local Ligurian dialect.
The rolling hills and vineyards of Gavi.
The area is in Piemonte now, but historically was more associated with Liguria and Genoa, which being on the coast needed more white wine to partner their fish based cuisine. Records show that Cortese has been grown here since at least 1659, but the wine that we know of as Gavi did not appear until 1876 and Gavi’s reliance on Cortese did not fully start until replanting took place after Phyloxerra was beaten in the early years of the twentieth century. In reality Gavi’s reputation and its perception as a quality wine only dates from the 1960s with its fame growing through the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s as new producers created new estates and used modern knowhow to make increasingly better wine.
One thing I learned was that despite its popularity there is no such wine as Gavi di Gavi and that term should not appear on labels. If a wine comes from fruit grown in just one of the 11 communes able to make Gavi then it can be labelled as Gavi del Commune di Gavi – or Bosio, or Carrosio, or Capriata d’Orba, or Francavilla Bisio, or Novi Ligure, or Parodi Ligure, or Pasturana, or San Cristoforo, or Serravalle Scrivia, or Tassarolo.
What’s more these are a single DOCg, they are indivisible and are considered to all be of the same quality – unlike Chianti and Chianti Classico for instance which are separate DOCgs.
Map showing the wines of Piemonte, I will draw a more detailed map soon.
It is a lovely part of the world, hilly in a way that reminded me of Tuscany and surrounded by mountains. The Alps to the north and west, coastal mountains towards Genoa and the Apennines to the east and south. Standing on a hillside just outside Gavi I was struck by the beauty of the place, the excellent exposure to sunlight, which would help ripen the grapes on a well angled slope, but above all the lovely fresh, cooling breeze coming from the Ligurian Sea some 60 kilometres to the south. It is this cooling wind together with the chalky soils that helps keep the freshness, acidity and balance in the wine that makes Gavi’s reputation and ensures this is a fine white wine region.
As I say, I tasted a great many different Gavis and I can truthfully say that none of them were disagreeable in any way. Most of them were what I would term reliable and I would have happily drunk any of them at all at the right price and in the right setting. Sadly a few were a little lacking in character and excitement, but luckily the others more than made up for it.
It’s strange that Gavi is so often talked about as a high acid wine, well actually most of the examples I tasted had medium acidity at most, which made them softer than I had expected and hoped for, as it also made them somewhat anodyne. For me the heights were reached when the wines had a more thrilling and zesty level of acidity that lifted them to a different level and emphasised Gavi’s much vaunted, but not always seen, minerality. For me at least it is that minerality and vibrant acidity that gives the wine its real finesse, elegance and excitement.
The Wines
As I said, all the wines are agreeable, but some were superb, and these were my absolute favourites:
Azienda Agricola Morgassi Superiore
This wonderful, and innovative winery is very new as it was only founded in 1993. Marina and Cecilia Piacitelli farm 50 hectares of steep south and southwest facing hillsides and have achieved amazing success in that short time. I really liked all Morgassi’s wines and their labels are very beautiful too, as are their vineyards. They even produce a delicious example of the rare Timorgasso grape, which has to be labelled as Timorgasso Monferrato Bianco DOC rather than Gavi because it is not made from Cortese grapes.
Azienda Agricola Morgassi Superiore.
2013 Morgassi Superiore Tuffo
Azienda Agricola Morgassi Superiore
Gavi del Commune di Gavi DOCg
Very pale, citrine and bright, silvery with a little touch of lime.
The palate is lovey and taut with great acidity, green fruit, more freshness and minerality and complexity, there is even a nice touch of weight to the palate too and lovely balance. The finish is pretty long and there is a touch of attractive peach stone bitterness. Really lovely stuff and nicely balanced – 90/100 points.
2010 Morgassi Superiore Volo
Azienda Agricola Morgassi Superiore
Gavi del Commune di Gavi DOCg
This Riserva level wine is a careful selection of the best fruit on the estate and spends 9 months ageing on the lees and is then aged for at least 18 months in bottle before release.
Bright citrine leemony, lime hue with more obvious vore viscosity.
More creamy, smoky aromas, that could be mistaken for oak even though there isn’t any.
Fatter more rounded palate with savoury leesy flavours and touch of cheese in the texture, savoury, bready, herbal and creamy. Very good weight, the acidity is masked a bit, but very good and zesty. Lovely texture, good length and the finish has some real fat to it. – 91/100 points.
Azienda Agricola La Ghibellina
The beautiful vineyards at Azienda Agricola La Ghibellina.
Probably my favourite visit in Gavi, and not just because they served us a superb buffet. Again this is a very new venture, founded as recently as 2000 by Alberto and Marina Ghibellini. Again the estate is small, just 20 hectares of south facing slopes that form a sort of amphitheatre giving perfect aspect to capture the sun’s rays and the cooling sea breezes from the south. Gavi is the focus, but they also make some red wines and Chiaretto rosé that are labelled as Monferrato DOC as Gavi is solely for white wines made from Cortese.
2013 Laghibellina Mainìn
Azienda Agricola La Ghibellina
Gavi del Commune di Gavi DOCg
This is Gavi as I imagine it to be, with a crisp, mineral character and high acidity, reminiscent of good Chablis. The wine is aged 4 months on the lees to help develop complexity.
Very bright and shiny with a pale silvery lime colour.
Very fresh, lively lime aromas, together with a touch of pear and zingy peach.
Nice pure mineral and zesty limey style, crisp, good acidity and some rich rich citrus fruit on the palate.
There is real tension here and a stony crisp acidity. This is a very fine wine with lovely citrus fruit and a long finish, thrilling acidity and minerality – 91/100 points.
2011 Laghibellina Altius
Azienda Agricola La Ghibellina
Gavi del Commune di Gavi DOCg
This Riserva level wine is a selection of the best fruit on the estate and spends 8 months ageing on the lees.
Deeper colour with a touch more gold.
Concentrated rich peachy fruit aroma with leesy notes, cream, cheese and caramel.
Broader palate with a rich texture, smoky flavours, peach fruit and peach skin too. The acidity is there on the finish, but the succulence and fleshy, fat texture dominate, with succulent peach and nectarine fruit. The finish has a little bitter nutty, peach stone character – 91/100 points.
Azienda Agricola Gian Piero Broglia
Sadly we did not visit this producer, but we enjoyed a stunning lunch with them in the wonderful Cantine del Gavi restaurant – if you are anywhere near the area do try and get there. Everything they served me was superb from the wild boar salami to the two pasta courses, and the scrumptious zabaglione to the home made amaretti biscuits with the coffee.
The beautiful dining room in the Cantine del Gavi.
The first pasta course.
The second pasta course – Ravioli originates in the area and some people say there was a chef or family called Raviolo whose name was given to the stuffed pasta.
The main course, Chema a typical genoese dish of sliced meatloaf stuffed with vegetables and served with Genoese pesto – what’s more it was delicious.
The zabaglione, one of the best desserts I have ever tasted – it was served hot and had frozen raspberries at the bottom.
Piero Broglia, chairman of the Gavi Conzorzio, owner of Azienda Agricola Gian Piero Broglia and our host for lunch.
The La Meirana estate is very old indeed and records show that some of it had vineyards on it as long ago as 971. The Broglia family purchased it in 1972, having first renovated a beautiful villa in Gavi. Piero took the estate over from his father in 1974 and they have never looked back. In many ways La Mairana is considered the quintessential Gavi as it makes beautifully elegant, mineral wines of great finesse and vitality and farm some of the oldest vines in the region.
2012 Broglia La Meirana
Azienda Agricola Gian Piero Broglia
Gavi del Commune di Gavi DOCg
5 months ageing on the lees with no malolactic fermentation.
Enticing pale appley cream colour with slightly green hints.
The aroma gives nice delicately cream notes with pear and apple fruit. together with some gentle, leesy, smoky aromas.
The palate feels elegantly weighty, with pear, apple and melon fruit. There is a fresh, soft acidity, too which gives a rounded and creamy mouthfeel.
All in all it is very attractive with steely minerality on the finish. A beautiful wine that would go with all sorts of dishes, but was especially good with the Ligurian food they served – 90/100 points.
2012 Bruno Broglia
Azienda Agricola Gian Piero Broglia
Gavi del Commune di Gavi DOCg
A Riserva level wine made from a parcel of vines on the La Meirana estate called Fasciola. These vines were planted in 1953 and 1955 and produce a wine with great concentration and which is named in honour of Piero’s father. It is unasked, but spends 6 months on the lees.
A deeper colour, like creamy pear juice.
The nose was aromatic, gently cheesy and creamy, with herbs, flowers and pear, together with delicate peach notes and some gentle spice too.
Very rounded palate with lovely freshness of acidity with minerality and an earthy, ashy character, touch of almond bitterness to the finish too. Lovely soft, creamy texture, very rich finish, long with lovely balance. This is a fine, fine wine and quite delicious too – 92/100 points.
Over lunch and during the tasting that followed I was also hugely impressed by these Gavis:
2013 Minaia
Nicola Bergaglio
Gavi del Commune di Gavi DOCg
Very pale, pear juice colour with a dash of lemon.
Pear drop aromas, herbs and onion seed, all very delicate though.
Lovely palate, soft acidity, gentle mouthfeel, just fresh enough to be lively, but with pear juice succulence.
Very attractive wine – 89/100 points.
2013 La Fornace
Azienda Agricola Bergaglio Cinzia
Gavi del Commune di Tassarolo DOCg
I loved this wine with its thrilling acidity and minerality and it came from a different commune too.
Bright, pale colour, a sort of silvery lemon and lime.
Leesy nose, with citrus and apple skin notes, floral blossom and acacia, all in all very fresh and attractive.
Nice intensity of peach and green apple fruit, and good acidity with some texture of fruit, nicely mineral too making it feel clean and zesty. Very good balance, concentrated and fine with lively acidity, great length and a twist of peach stone bitterness at the end – 92/100 points.
A sparkling surprise
I was very excited to be served some sparkling Gavi too. I knew they existed, but had never tasted one before and I was very impressed. Prosecco and Franciacorta get all the fame and plaudits for Italian sparkling wine, but from the examples I tried, sparkling Gavi – and by extension sparkling Cortese – can be really good and perhaps more exciting too. Some are made fizzy by the tank method, and can be very enjoyable as this one shows, but the best are made using the traditional method – metodo classico in Italian – and the extra finesse and complexity really show.
The beautiful vineyards at Azienda Agricola Magda Pedrini – courtesy of Azienda Agricola Magda Pedrini.
2011 Magdalena Pedrini Metodo Classico Gavi Brut
Azienda Agricola Magda Pedrini, Tenuta Nuova Cà da Meo
Gavi del Commune di Gavi DOCg
Cà de Meo is a hamlet – or lieux-dit – within Gavi and it is very old indeed, with a history dating back at least as far as the fifteenth century. Magdalena Pedrini’s estate covers 10 hectares on 3 natural south facing amphitheatres that catch the sun and those vital sea breezes. Sadly I have not yet visited, but if all the wines are as good as this, then I really should.
Very fine wine with a lovely biscuity caramel nose. The palate has a fine mousse, rich apple and apple skin flavours some butterscotch and mealy character. Very good indeed with lovely acidity, balance and complexity. The freshness shows well and there is lovely richness too making it a brilliant fizz. We enjoyed it as an aperitif with some salami to nibble on, but it would partner anything you can eat while drinking Champagne – 92/100 points.
I think you can see that there is a lot to enjoy in Gavi. There are a great many perfectly enjoyable wines and lots of flashes of brilliance – from producers like those mentioned above – which lift Gavi up into the ranks of world class wine regions and put it firmly with the best white wines and sparkling wines of Italy.
I leave you with a view of the dramatic fortress which dominates the skyline of the town of Gavi as it has done since it was first built in 973.
Gavi fortress.
Quentin Sadler's Wine Page 