Sparkling, White, and Red from Liguria
by Tom Wolf
2021 Pettirosso Allegro
Italy | Liguria
If you’re setting wine goals for yourself in 2023, allow me to suggest one: look to regions outside of Champagne and Prosecco and sample their most highly recommended sparkling wines. You’ll discover how delicious—and full of value—such bottles from less-trodden areas can be. Start with Punta Crena’s charming and festive Pettirosso Allegro, an effervescent rosato whose crisp acidity and generous flavors of cranberries and blood orange present the perfect way to start an evening.
2021 Pigato “Vigneto Ca da Rena”
Italy | Liguria
We import Vermentinos from all over Mediterranean France and Italy, but this is the only Pigato—Vermentino’s speckled twin—we import. A specialty of Liguria, Pigato often yields bianchi with a little more heft and texture, traits embodied by Punta Crena’s 2021 rendition. Zesty and faintly saline, this medium-bodied beauty is begging to be opened the next time you make shrimp tacos or spaghetti alle vongole.
2018 Rossese di Dolceacqua Superiore
Italy | Liguria
While Punta Crena offers many tastes of the Ligurian coast, Tenuta Anfosso delivers the ultimate expression of more inland Liguria, with its vineyards planted along hillsides so steep they confirm the Alps are close by. Today, Alessandro Anfosso serves as a beacon of traditional, everything-done-by-hand agriculture in this slice of the region, farming Rossese vines up to 135 years old. With its elegant notes of rose petals, red fruit, and spice, his Superiore bottling is the perfect introduction to the family’s lineup and the Dolceacqua sliver of Liguria.