2020 Fontanassa Gavi Comune di Gavi Roverto DOCG

What do many Italians drink themselves as soon as the mercury rises outside? Gavi! The wines from the Piedmontese village of Gavi are regularly referred to as 'the Chablis of Italy'. Not surprising, because they are wonderfully crispy and fresh and combine perfectly at the table.

The Gavi 'Fontanassa' is a dry vinified wine and shows a bright straw yellow color with light green reflections. The delicate bouquet reveals hints of freshly cut grass, melon, pear and almond, with a hint of sage in the background. Even in its youth, this harmonious Gavi already shows a special complexity and a pleasant richness of flavors with a fine, mineral undertone. The silky, round mouthfeel and the ripe flavors are in perfect balance with the fresh acidity. The long, elegant and full finish further confirms the supremacy of this Gavi del Comune di Gavi-Rovereto 'Fontanassa'.

The village of Gavi is located in Piemonte, against Liguria and therefore only 30-40 km from the sea. Cortese is the grape used for making Gavi. It is precisely in Gavi that Cortese produces exciting wines due to the unique microclimate: the ventilating sea breeze here collides with the mountain ridges of the Apennines. There are therefore strong temperature differences between day and night that give the Cortese its tension. The entire appellation benefits from this microclimate. The best wines come from the higher vineyards directly around the village. Cortese produces wines with more precise acids and a more aromatic character on white surfaces with tuff stone. This sub-area has its own defined name Gavi del Comune di Gavi DOCG (often shortened to Gavi di Gavi).

Only the best producer from each of the 9 communes is allowed to join the elite of Gavi and Marco Gemme, owner and winemaker of Fontanassa, is one of them. Together with his brother Roberto and oenologist Gaspare Buscemi, their very first harvest was brought in in 1988. Located in Rovereto, in the historic heart of the DOCG, Fontanassa owns 27 hectares of vineyards, all laid out on demolitions with a south-southwest orientation. The marl-like soil mainly contains a lot of clay, lime and ferrous sand. The vines are cultivated using the Guyot method and the grapes are picked by hand.

The qualities of the Cortese grape were already recorded in 1659 and in 1870 the Cortese was once the most widely planted white grape variety in the province of Alessandria (Piedmont). The best quality comes from the DOCG Gavi.