Castello di Verduno Verduno Doc Basadone, Piedmont, Italy 2020 (£18.67, justerinis.com) Of all the many reasons to love Italian wine, one of the most compelling is the sheer, dazzling array of grape varieties the country’s winemakers have at their disposal. The Italian wine specialist Ian d’Agata discusses about 500 in his marvellously detailed Native Wine Grapes of Italy – and that doesn’t even cover the many non-natives, such as chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir and gewurztraminer, that can and do make some tremendous (and recognisably Italian) wines in various parts of the peninsula. A handful of Italian varieties have achieved international fame: pinot grigio; the sangiovese of chianti, brunello di montalcino and others in Tuscany and elsewhere in Central Italy; the nebbiolo of Piedmont’s barolo and barbaresco. Others are barely known beyond their very particular local area, among them the vanishingly rare pelavegra, from the village of Verduno in barolo country, which makes delightfully delicate, strawberry-scented, finely black pepper-sprinkled reds such as Castello di Verduno’s.
Contesa Pecorino Colline Pescaresi, Abruzzo, Italy 2021 (£9.99, or £7.99 as part of a mixed case of six, majestic.co.uk) As is the case in much of France, many Italian grape varieties are hidden from view, with producers traditionally preferring to label their wines by place rather than grape, as is the modern, New World-led way. Varieties such as another from Piedmont, Gavi’s cortese – which is responsible for the pristine, subtly lemon-scented raciness of the Piona Bricco delle Farfalle Gavi del Comune di Gavi 2021 (£15.99, or £13.99 to members, nakendwines.com) – or the garganega of soave in the Veneto – the base for the soft pear, scented white flowers and almonds of Inama Soave Classico 2021 (£15.99, or £12.99, as part of a mixed case of six, majestic.co.uk) – are as a consequence rather less well known than they deserve to be. Elsewhere in Italy, however, the variety’s the star, not least pecorino, which makes gently incisive, citrussy whites such as the Contesa, which, I reckon pairs better with simply grilled white fish than its namesake Italian sheep’s cheese.
Maree d’Ione Nero di Troia, Puglia, Italy 2022 (£8.99, Waitrose) Partly because of the sheer range, but also thanks to the fact that so few of them have been planted to any great extent (or with much success) outside Italy itself, it’s easy even for the most experienced and adventurous wine drinker to feel a sense of discovery with Italian grape varieties. Certainly, it’s hard to get bored when you can, without taking very much trouble, find a different, delicious Italian wine, made from a different grape variety, for every day of the year. Recent candidates I’ve enjoyed include a bottle from the very far north, Manni Nossing Kerner 2021 (£23.95, leaandsandeman.co.uk), a startlingly, spring-water-pure example of kerner, a German grape variety that has made a home for itself in the province of Alto-Adige, while Maree d’Ione Nero di Troia gives start billing to nero di troia, a red grape that usually falls behind primitivo or negroamaro in the local Puglian pecking order, but here makes a typically ripe, warming, darkly plummy, good-value southern red.
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