Italian white wines are often dismissed as unserious—and relegated to drinking only during carefree summer months. But this hasn’t always been the case. This reputation largely stems from post-war technological innovations and industrialised farming, which made a diverse category increasingly homogenous. Along the way, “don’t they all taste like pinot grigio?” became a not-unreasonable question.
Today, though, the answer to that question is a firm no. I should admit my own bias, as a faculty member of the Vinitaly International Academy, an educational body designed to spread the gospel of Italian native grapes, but I fervently believe that there are some dynamite whites being produced in Italy.
Unlike riesling or sauvignon blanc, most Italian white grapes are not explicitly fruity. It’s their varied non-fruit aromas—such as fennel and anise (in the case…
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Tatler Hong Kong (Digital) - 1 Issue, January 2020