From Gorgo's Vineyards: Uncovering the Veneto's Overlooked White Wine Appellation

While many winelovers and visitors to the Veneto are attracted to the wines of Valpolicella, Amarone, Bardolino and even Soave, when visiting that part of the region there is another DOC of this area that doesn’t share the same spotlight that deserves the attention, the Custoza DOC.  Nestled between Verona and Lake Garda, this white wine dominated appellation shows the uniqueness of it’s mineral driven soils and Azienda Agricola Gorgo’s Custoza DOC that I’m sharing today is a great bottle to experience what this area is all about.  

map of Custoza DOC territory - copyright of Consorzio Custoza

The Gorgo Winery

This family owned estates was Founded in 1973 by Roberto and Alberta Bricolo, the Gorgo winery is located in Sommacampagna, nearby to the village of Custoza in the southeastern part of Lake Garda within the Veneto region.  Today Roberto and Alberta’s daughter, Roberta, leads the operations of the winery to carry on her parents dream.  What started as about a 54 acres winery has grown to around 130 acres producing all certified organic wines.

Roberta and Roberto Bricolo - copyright of Az. Agr. Gorgo

The Custoza wine appellation

Gorgo was established two years after the Custoza DOC was established in 1971, which is the appellation that the wine I’m sharing today is from.  This is a white wine dedicated DOC.  The wine must contain a minimum of at least 70% of Bianca Fernanda, the local name for Cortese, Friulano, Garganega and/or Trebbiano Toscano without one of those grapes making up more than 45% of the blend.  

The Custoza DOC territory forms an amphitheater made of morainic soils formed from glacial deposits from the glaciers during the Quarternary Period.  This DOC covers 9 towns across 4,360 acres.  Due to the soils and the Mediterranean climate that is moderated by Lake Garda, these wines are fresh and tend to have floral aromatics with a fruit profile of pears, apples, citrus and tropical fruits that are fresh with a touch of minerality and salinity.

The Wine Selection - Gorgo Custoza

The 2021 Gorgo Custoza DOC is part of Gorgo’s Classic line.  It is made certified organic from the Garganega, Trebbiano Toscano and Bianca Fernanda grapes (which is a native clone of the Cortese grape). The grapes are cryomacerated and softly pressed and fermented in stainless steel with the wine on the lees in stainless for 3-4 months until bottled.  The wine was a brilliant straw color with golden highlights.  Fragrant with heavier armor as of petrol and tropical notes. Medium-bodied on the palate with a slight unctuous texture with tropical (pineapple) notes. 12.5% ABV $16 SRP (newer vintages on Wine.com)

Best ways to visit Sommacampagna and the Custoza area

The area of Lake Garda is such a marvelous place to explore and Sommacampagna is an easy jaunt outside of Verona.  It’s even closer than Verona to the closest airport, Valerio Catullo Airport. It’s just an easy 3 miles!  If you’re visiting Verona and looking to venture out from the city you can reach Sommacampagna by car, which is about a 10 miles drive.  If you will not have a vehicle it is also easily accessible from Verona Porta Nuova station via bus, which should take about 30 minutes.  With this close proximity to so many great sights there is no reason not to visit!

Map copyright of Consorzio Custoza

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9 di Dante Inferno Rosso Vermouth paired with Pork Tenderloin and Mushrooms

For the first time here on Vino Travels I am exploring the world of Vermouth.  I was invited to a virtual tasting last year led by Alex Ouziel, owner of 9 di Dante, a producer of Vermouth from the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy.  I have never been a fan of fortified wines, nor am I a martini or manhatten drinker that utilizes vermouth, so I had a lot to learn during this tasting.  Any time a brand or producer can change my impression and perspective on something, as was the case with the 9 di Dante vermouth tasting, I'm all in on learning and exploring more. 

All about vermouth

What is vermouth?  Vermouth is a fortified wine where the aromatics and flavors of the wine have been enhanced by herbs, spices and botanicals and fortified by distilled alcohol.  Alex explained that vermouth must be made by at least 75% wine, but typically there isn’t much focus on the wine itself.  This is where Alex’s passion lies in making vermouth by focusing on the grapes and the wine as the base. 

In understanding Vermouth there are 2 factors: the color and the sugar content.  Typically, vermouths are white since it is easier to work with white grapes.  Many of the vermouth that are red are due to the caramel coloring that is added.  In regards to 9 di Dante's red vermouth, that is not the case, but we will take about what makes their vermouth unique in a bit.   

When it comes to the varied levels of sugar content in vermouth there is

• extra dry vermouth (less than 30 grams of sugar)
• dry vermouth (30-50 grams of sugar) 
• sweet vermouth (130 grams and above)   

What gave me a chuckle was that there was no explanation what happens to the Vermouth that are between 50 and 130 grams other than they don’t qualify to be labeled at stated levels.  Leave it to the Italians! 

Alex Ouziel, founder of 9 di Dante, with partner and master blender, Mario Baralis

The beginnings of vermouth 

Vermouth began near the end of the 18th century around the city of Turin, the capital of the Piedmont region.  Not too distant from Turin is the port of Genoa, a top trading port, where spices would arrive at the harbor that were utilized in the production of vermouth.  During the 18th century Vermouth was enjoyed by royalty including the court of Savoy.  Later in the 1800’s Vermouth began to be exported to the United States and into the early 1900’s 33% of the classic cocktails, Alex shared, used vermouth in them in comparison to today where about 50/50 of the cocktails are a blend of spirits with Vermouth. 

About 9 di Dante

As the name states, Dante the famous Italian poet and writer, is the inspiration behind the 9 di Dante brand created by Alex Ouziel.    Per their site, "9 di Dante comes to life as a modern liquid version of the poem.  Vermouth is a power struggle between Wormwood and all the other botanicals, told in a language that everyone can understand....wine!"

Mario Baralis, a master blender that lives north of Asti whom had retired from this industry about 20 years ago, was sold on what Alex was trying to do with 9 di Dante and came out of retirement to assist him with this project and to lend his expertise.   

What sets 9 di Dante apart from many of the other vermouth is that theey are made from 100% Piedmont DOC native varietals with up to 83% wine content in comparison to the 75% minimum shared earlier.  Also, 100% of the herbs come from the area around the town of Alba in Piedmont.  The botanicals are extracted in pure alcohol in 27 separate batches at low levels of alcohol to make sure to not burn the herbs, with the exception of the vanilla and orange that can withstand higher levels of extraction.  These wines are also not aged. 

The 9 di Dante Vermouth is produced at the historic distillery in Alba, Dr. M Montanaro Distillery just about 5 miles outside of Barolo and 45 minutes from Turin.  This distillery is the first to make Grappa di Barolo in all of Italy.   

The Vermouth wine 

The 9 di Dante Inferno Rosso Vermouth di Torino Superiore IGP is made from 50% of the red Dolcetto grape and 50% of the white Cortese grape.  Alex first bottled this wine in 2019.  He chose the Dolcetto grape to add its deep color and high tannin profile while the Cortese grape was chosen to lend its high acidity, crispness and help to retain freshness.   

This vermouth had 27 botanicals added, but 9 of those 27 guided the formula, similar to the 9 sins of Dante's Inferno in the Divine Comedy.  This vermouth was a lighter ruby red in color with red fruit and herbal aromas.  A bit of bitterness on the palate with notes of vanilla, spice, orange and cinnamon carried on with nice length.  I was expecting this wine to be more bold and overpowering on the botanicals, but waspleasantly surprised.  Personally, I’ve never enjoyed just sipping on vermouth from my limited experience, but did quite like this Inferno Rosso.  ABV 17.5% SRP $33 

The Vermouth pairing 

I don’t have any experience in pairing food with vermouth, but I thought it would be best to prepare a dish where I could incorporate the vermouth into my cooking of the meal.  I prepared a roasted pork tenderloin for this pairing. On the side I prepared baby bella mushrooms in some extra virgin olive oil with a little butter and about a cup of vermouth.  Cooking with the vermouth and the mushrooms added nice savory flavors to the dish and I poured the remaining liquid over the pork.  Delish!   

How familiar are you with vermouth and how do you enjoy it?

 

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*This wine was provided as a sample, but as always opinions are my own.

Gavi: One of Piedmont's Great White Wines

As we round out these last couple weeks of November, this week I'm focusing on the Piedmont wine region and one of its great white grapes, Cortese, specifically the wines produced from the Gavi area. You can find this area located in the southeastern corner of Piedmont where Piedmont merges with the region of Liguria within the provinces of Monferrato and Alessandria. The landscape of this area not only has hills and valleys with the Ligurian Apennines nearby, but it’s only about 30 miles north of Genoa with the Ligurian Sea influences.

Wines have shown up in documents within the area of Gavi since 972 AD, but this region had historically been based on red wines. By the 17th century documentation shows that the vineyards had completely converted over to the Cortese grape. After phylloxera had hit the area, producers chose to replant their vineyards with the Cortese grape over the Dolcetto grape. Much success and attention was drawn to the Cortese grape driven by the producer La Scolca. 

In 1974 Gavi earned the DOC certification. In the 80’s Cortese’s quality declined due to its high yields and production of neutral, acidic wines. Into the 90’s Cortese’s quality recovered earning the Gavi DOCG certification in 1998. The Gavi DOCG wines hail from 11 communes within the Alessandria province produced from 100% Cortese. You may also see the wines labeled as Gavi di Gavi and those are wines that come specifically come from the Gavi commune.  

Legend has it that these wines were named after Princess Gavia. In 528 she fled the wrath of her father, Clodomiro the King of France, due to her love for a young page that he disapproved of. She fled to the hills of Gavi to seek refuge from the troops and hence this area was named after her. Not sure of how much truth there are in these legends of these names come about, but it is always a fun read. 

The area in which Gavi is grown has a moderately continental climate with cold winters and warm summers. There is great air circulation with such close proximity to the Ligurian Sea. The wines of Gavi will show better in warmer vintages as they will have more body and flavors than those in cold vintages that tend to be more lean. Cortese tends to be a grape that has nice crisp acidity with subtle aromas showing notes of citrus, almond and minerality. It’s a wine that is meant to be drunk in its youth. The Consorzio Tutela del Gavi descibes the Cortese grape as “elegant and a delicate bouquet, with hints of fresh fruit and white flowers, with notes of citrus and bitter almonds, enriched with age by mineral scents and complexity”. 

I don’t have a particular wine to share with you today with the chaos of the holidays and preparation for my family vacation coming up, but you can check out some of my prior blogs on Gavi wines. 

• Michele Chiarlo Gavi with Grilled Chicken Caprese 
• The Minerality of Gavi with Coppo Winery 

I’ve written a number of times about Michele Chiarlo’s wines here including my feature last week on the Michele Chiarlo Barbera, the Gavi featured above and others. It’s unfortunate to hearing of his passing November 18th at the age of 88. It’s beautiful to see his sons carry on the family’s traditions and Michele’s love and passion for wine.  

You can find other Cortese and Gavi wines at Wine.com. 

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Information and pictures sourced from the Consorzio Tutela del Gavi. 

 

*I may receive commissions if any wines are purchased directly from the above site to support the operations of Vino Travels.