Italian Whites in Three Styles
by Jane Augustine
2024 Valle d’Itria Bianco “Faraone”
Italy | Puglia
I sipped on this easy-drinking white from coastal Puglia while steaming carrots and yellow zucchini for my infant son. I planned to serve the wine with my dinner—tilapia, simply seasoned, and baked in olive oil and lemon (my go-to preparation in a pinch). Faraone is a snappy, slightly chalky bianco that matched well with the flaky fish. Neither overpowered the other, and the wine tasted clean and crisp. I also enjoyed it alongside the baby’s veggies!
2023 Südtirol Eisacktaler Kerner
Italy | Alto Adige
The terraced slopes of the Dolomites are too far out of the way for most Americans who visit Italy, so this Alpine region remains a bit of a secret for its stellar whites. But for curious palates, a taste of Manni’s Kerner will surely spark the travel bug. He grows “aromatic” varieties, technically, but his wines aren’t showy or loud. His Kerner, a grape with some Riesling parentage, is a vigorous white with cool intensity. By keeping grapes shaded in a leafy canopy, then vinifying in stainless steel, Manni sidesteps richness in favor of refreshment.
2023 Chardonnay “Ronco Pitotti”
Italy | Friuli
Some terroirs are so enigmatic they can transform a universal grape like Chardonnay into something novel, drawing you in with a vague familiarity, only to send you on a sensory adventure while sniffing around trying to place it. Chardonnay undoubtedly has pedigree when grown in limestone (Burgundy) or Kimmeridgian soil (Chablis), but in the marl and sandstone of eastern Friuli, it takes on new dimensions of rivaling grandeur: Duline’s Chardonnay is salty, full-bodied, and bracingly vertical. It’s not to be missed.
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